Seth Kantner Selected Works

An exploration of the interconnectedness of the Iñupiat of Northwest Alaska, the Western Arctic Caribou Herd, and the larger Arctic region, revealing the fragile and intertwined lives of people and animals surviving on an uncertain landscape. Kantner’s lifetime on the tundra underpins his compelling account of the politics of caribou, race relations, and cultural priorities vs. resource extraction. Kantner’s stunning full-color photographs enhance his depiction of community, habitat, and the timeless passage of caribou throughout.

Swallowed by the Great Land features slice-of-life essays that further reveal the duality in the author's own life today, and also in the village and community that he inhabits: a mosaic of all life on the tundra. Unique characters, village life, wilderness and the larger landscape, a warming Arctic, and hunting and other aspects of subsistence living are all explored in varied yet intimate stories.

A boisterous wolf pup and an awkward young porcupine are unlikely allies in this tale of friendship set on Alaska’s tundra. The two grow up as neighbors, but only through helping each other escape from a trapper do they learn what it means truly to be friends.

Gently inspired by the fable of “The Lion and the Mouse,” Pup and Pokey teaches young readers about living in the wilderness and the sometimes unexpected connections that arise in our lives. Pup and Pokey is the first children’s book from acclaimed Alaska author Seth Kantner. With Kantner’s storytelling and Beth Hill’s original illustrations, Pup and Pokey is a touching outdoor adventure story that only two talented Alaskans could tell.

In the tradition of Jack London, Seth Kantner presents an Alaska far removed from majestic clichés of exotic travelogues and picture postcards. Kantner’s vivid and poetic prose lets readers experience Cutuk Hawcly’s life on the Alaskan plains through the character’s own words—feeling the pliers pinch of cold and hunkering in an igloo in blinding blizzards. Always in Cutuk’s mind are his father Ab,; the legendary hunter Enuk Wolfglove, and the wolves—all living out lives on the unforgiving tundra. Jeered and pummeled by native children because he is white, Cutuk becomes a marginal participant in village life, caught between cultures. After an accident for which he is responsible, he faces a decision that could radically change his life. Like his young hero, Seth Kantner grew up in a sod igloo in the Alaska, and his experiences of wearing mukluks before they were fashionable, eating boiled caribou pelvis, and communing with the native tribes add depth and power to this acclaimed narrative.