Sold—”The Barrens: A Novel of Love & Death in the Canadian Arctic”

Delighted to announce that in our New Stories initiative Ewan and I have sold a superb debut novel, The Barrens: A Novel of Love & Death in the Canadian Arctic, to Arcade Publishing, who will bring it out in Spring 2022. Here’s a condensed version of the pitch letter I sent to publishers:

The Barrens: A Novel of Love and Death in the Canadian Arctic by Kurt Johnson and Ellie Johnson is a unique adventure novel that will captivate readers across a wide range of tastes. Written in spare, flowing prose, it tells the story of Holly and Lee, two female wilderness paddlers who face hardship and tragedy along the Thelon River in sub-Arctic Canada, canoeing through the uninhabited tundra of the Barren Lands during their summer break from college. Holly had made this canoe trip in an earlier summer, and wanted to share the experience with her friend and lover Lee.

In their relationship, Holly and Lee have always told each other stories; Holly had even called Lee a “storyist,” an animating idea for them both. Storytelling helps Lee endure, and in turn the reader is brought along on their epic journey. These personal narratives form the backbone of the novel, with Lee chronicling her coming-of-age life off-the-grid in Nebraska with an eco-anarchist father who ends up in prison. The reader also encounters their coming-out stories, peaking when Lee meets Holly’s parents at the end of the trip.

The Barrens explores themes of nature versus humanity, the elements versus civilization, weaving them together in a way that is compelling and engrossing. The word “unique” is applicable when considering this novel, as this is the first wilderness adventure tale I know of that explores themes of gender identity and sexual orientation, juxtaposed with gritty survival and tragedy.

Kurt Johnson wrote the novel with insight and guidance from Ellie, who made the 450-mile-long paddle down the Thelon River and for forty-five days didn’t see a soul apart from her paddling companions. The story is the product of the two working to understand an arduous journey through the Barren Lands, and Ellie’s journey as a young gay woman coming of age.

Kurt completed a year-long novel writing course at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis taught by Peter Geye (a Minnesota Book Award winner) who’s said of The Barrens, “I’ve rarely come across a novel that’s simultaneously so economical and fulsome,   that’s as restrained as it is brimming with unspoken wisdom, and that manages all this while also being propulsive in its storytelling. It’s bravura work that demands a wide audience.”

Kurt Johnson lives in St. Paul with his wife Stephanie Hansen, who is writing a cookbook with Minnesota Historical Society Press called True North Cabin Cookbook. Ellie Johnson is a senior at the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities, and a former canoe counselor at Camp Widjiwagan in Ely, Minnesota.
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I’ve never worked on a novel that’s received so many sincere and heartfelt endorsements this far out from publication. Here are all of them, in addition to the one above from Peter Geye.

“The Barrens grabbed me from the opening pages and never let go, a riveting adventure story written by a father-daughter team who clearly have wilderness chops.”—Michael Punke, author of The Revenant and Ridgeline

“A deeply compelling tale, told in vivid, elegant but concise prose, The Barrens carried me along, swiftly as the river at the heart of the story. The central character, Lee, will break your heart, although she’ll have none of it. Love, loss, life and death, against a landscape as raw and ancient as the human heart. Most highly recommended.”—Jeffrey Lent, author of In the Fall

“As harrowing as the whitewater adventure it chronicles, The Barrens is an epic tale of wilderness survival and death in the techno age. The writing throbs with presence: the life-force embedded in Canada’s northern frontier landscape and in the life-scape of its queer young heroine as she journeys toward selfhood. Co-authors Kurt and Ellie Johnson reveal the pulse of identity, born of the stories we weave. A mesmerizing, devastating read.”—Carol Bruneau, Canadian author of Brighten the Corner Where You Are: A Novel Inspired by the Life of Maud Lewis

“The Barrens is the raw and moving story of two young women paddling by canoe down one of North America’s the most remote rivers—of their coming of age, their love, and terrible loss. I’ve rarely come across a text that is so visual, and so tangible. The Barrens is a vivid portrayal of the Canadian subarctic, and of the human drive to persevere.”—Alex Messenger, author of The Twenty-Ninth Day: Surviving a Grizzly Attack in the Canadian Tundra