This week on The Write Question, Lauren speaks with Healy, Alaska-based writer Christine Byl about her debut novel, Lookout (Deep Vellum Publishing), which tells the story of the Kinzlers, a complex working-class family firmly rooted in northwestern Montana.
Josiah and Margaret Kinzler have forged an unusual bond marked by both tenderness and distance; their daughters, Cody and Louisa, grow up watching their parents navigate what it means to be true to yourself and what that costs. Lookout offers a gripping dual coming-of-age: Cody’s from stoic ranch kid to hotshot firefighter to resilient woman learning to rely on others, and Josiah’s as he struggles to thrive in a world that has misunderstood him. Bound by their love of the land, the Kinzlers work to bridge the gaps created by what they leave unspoken. Lookout brings to life a family coming out to itself, at home in a new and nuanced American West.
Josiah, or “Pop,” Kinzler, tells his daughter that “Sometimes what you don’t say out loud for long enough becomes a secret even if you didn’t mean it to.” Ironically, perhaps, Lookout, while situated so comfortably in the exterior, in Montana’s Rocky Mountains, is not a book that compels its readers to look OUT. Instead, this is a book about interior lives, a novel that wonders, What is not being said?
About Christine:
Christine Byl is the author of Dirt Work: An Education in the Woods (Beacon Press, 2013), a book about trail crews, tools, wildness, and labor; it was short-listed for the 2014 Willa Award in nonfiction. Her prose has appeared in Glimmer Train Stories, The Sun, Crazyhorse, and Brevity, among other journals and anthologies. A grant recipient from the Rasmuson Foundation and the Alaska State Council on the Arts, and winner of the Alaska Literary Award in 2015, Byl has been a fellow at Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and writer-in-residence for Fishtrap’s Writer-in-the-Schools program. Christine has worked as a professional trail-builder for more than twenty-five years; she lives with her family in Interior Alaska on the homelands of the Dene.
Christine Byl recommends:
The Jump Off Creek by Molly Gloss (HarperCollins)
The Lost Journals of Sacajewea Debra Magpie Earling (Milkweed Editions)
Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry edited by Elizabeth Bradfield, CMarie Fuhrman, and Derek Sheffield
Lauren Korn recommends:
Lookout (Deep Vellum Publishing) and Dirt Work: An Education in the Woods (Beacon Press) by Christine Byl
Pity the Beast by Robin McLean (And Other Stories)
How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang (Riverhead Books)
Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang (Flatiron Books)
The Lost Journals of Sacajewea Debra Magpie Earling (Milkweed Editions)
The Trace by Forrest Gander (New Directions)
Outlawed by Anna North (Bloomsbury Publishing)
The Cold Millions by Jess Walter (HarperCollins)
Haints Stayby Colin Winnette (Two Dollar Radio)
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The Write Question team for this episode was Lauren Korn, host, co-producer, and editor; and Jake Birch, co-producer and editor; and Chris Moyles, sound engineer. This episode is sponsored by Chapter One Bookstore in Hamilton, Montana, a literary and community resource for the Bitterroot Valley—providing space to explore, discover, and share passions since 1974. More information can be found at Chapter1Bookstore.com.
The Write Question logo and brand (2022) was designed by Molly Russell. You can see more of her work at iamthemollruss.com and on Instagram @iamthemollruss. Our music was written and recorded by John Floridis.
Funding for The Write Question comes from Humanities Montana; members of Montana Public Radio; and from the Greater Montana Foundation—encouraging communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans.
The Write Question is a production of Montana Public Radio.
