About Susan

Susan Pope’s life has been shaped by growing up in the wild terrain of Alaska.

Mountains, rivers, glaciers, oceans. These form the settings for her stories about family, nature, and the rapidly changing landscape of her homeland. In her memoir, she follows the threads that bind five generations of her family to Alaska.

Yet, she is also drawn to faraway places—Africa, Bhutan, South America, the desert Southwest, and more. With humor, humility, and courage she confronts the challenges and disappointments of motherhood and grandmother-hood, her fear of heights and drowning, the secrets of a found diary, a crumbling family legacy, and more.

Susan’s interest in writing was sparked in third grade when her poem won first prize in children’s division of the Anchorage Daily News Creative Writing Contest.

She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in journalism and communication from the University of Washington, a master’s degree in counseling psychology from the University of Alaska Anchorage, and a Ph.D. in human and organization development from the Fielding Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara. Throughout her work in the fields of counseling, education, consulting, curriculum development, and child welfare research and evaluation, she has continued writing and publishing essays and stories.

Susan finds joy in books, writing, exploring wild places near and far from home, and spending time with family and friends. She lives with her husband in Anchorage, Alaska.

Her work has appeared in Pilgrimage, Under the Sun, The Southeast Review Online, Cirque: A Literary Journal of the Pacific Rim, Crosscurrents: Alaskans on the Environment, Hippocampus, Under the Gum Tree, Burrow Press Review, BioStories, Writers’ Workshop Review, Alaska Magazine, Deep Wild, HerStry, Canary, and Burningword Literary Review, among others.

About Susan

Susan Pope’s life has been shaped by growing up in the wild terrain of Alaska.

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