That was in 1990. Unfortunately, a few months after she started writing, her father passed away. Two years later, in 1992, her mother also passed on. An only child, the loss of her parents motivated Harper-Haines to continue writing and to organize her stories into a book.
At one point, she moved to Japan. While there, she saw a woman who looked remarkably like her mother. She took this as a positive sign and kept writing. Upon returning to the U.S., she moved to northern California and entered one of her stories in the highly competitive Writer's Digest contest and won an honorable mention.
Meanwhile she took writing classes at College of Marin, located near San Francisco. In addition, she collected photos for her book, which she connected to her writing. As she explored the past and wrote, she learned how extensive her Koyukon Athabascan family tree was; it branched off into family names that included Carlo, Harper, Huhndorf, Knox, Mayo, Minook, Fast, Pavloff, Pitka and more.
"Cold River Spirits" authored by shareholder Jan Harper-Haines
That was in 1990. Unfortunately, a few months after she started writing, her father passed away. Two years later, in 1992, her mother also passed on. An only child, the loss of her parents motivated Harper-Haines to continue writing and to organize her stories into a book.
At one point, she moved to Japan. While there, she saw a woman who looked remarkably like her mother. She took this as a positive sign and kept writing. Upon returning to the U.S., she moved to northern California and entered one of her stories in the highly competitive Writer's Digest contest and won an honorable mention.
Meanwhile she took writing classes at College of Marin, located near San Francisco. In addition, she collected photos for her book, which she connected to her writing. As she explored the past and wrote, she learned how extensive her Koyukon Athabascan family tree was; it branched off into family names that included Carlo, Harper, Huhndorf, Knox, Mayo, Minook, Fast, Pavloff, Pitka and more.
While she realized most Alaska Native history had been written by academics, she wanted her book to be a unique one, which captured the history that had been lost between the lines. She also wanted to reveal the integrity of the Koyukon Athabascan people today and how they are linked to the past with stories that still carry important meaning and knowledge.
The title of her book was a group endeavor forged between herself and Epicenter Press. In the end, her stories and photos form an incredible collage that maps out her writing quest and her search for and sense of self as a woman of both Koyukon Athabascan and French-Dutch heritage. Since her own journey as a writer has been so important and meaningful, she encourages others to write because it's a great way to know more about yourself. Currently, she's working on an Alaska based mystery novel.
Her book "Cold River Spirits" is available at local Anchorage bookstores and is also available through Epicenter Press by calling (800) 950-6663.
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