Turn Around Time with David Guterson

Most outdoor enthusiasts understand the phrase “turn around time” as that point in an adventure when you must cease heading out in order to have enough time to safely return to camp or home—regardless of whether you have reached your destination. For award-winning novelist David Guterson, it is also a metaphor for where we find ourselves in the middle of our lives, and his new narrative poem explores this idea through a lyrical journey along a trail, much like those in Washington’s mountain ranges which he hiked while growing up. With a fast-moving, propulsive quality, David’s writing offers lush language, vivid imagery, and pacing that resonates as a journey on foot. Outdoor-lovers will relate to the physicality of hiking represented here, from endless trail switchbacks to foot and ankle pains as well as observant descriptions of the mountain landscape. David’s words are brought further to life by the delicate yet mythical illustrations by award-winning artist Justin Gibbens. (www.justingibbens.com)

David Guterson is the author of Snow Falling on Cedars, which won the PEN/Faulkner and the American Booksellers Association Book of the Year Award. It has sold more than four million copies and was adapted as a major motion picture. He is the author of several other novels: East of the Mountains; Our Lady of the Forest, a New York Times Notable Book and a Los Angeles Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer Best Book of the Year; The Other; and Ed King. He is also the author of two story collections, The Country Ahead of Us, the Country Behind and Problems with People: a poetry collection, Songs for a Summons; and two works of nonfiction, Family Matters: Why Homeschooling Makes Sense and Descent: A Memoir of Madness. David's book-length poem, Turn Around Time: A Walking Poem for the Pacific Northwest will be published by Mountaineers Books in September 2019. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, he lives on Bainbridge Island near Seattle with his wife Robin. They have five children.

Follow him on social media:
Instagram: @davidguterson
Facebook: @davidgutersonauthor