Campfire Stories: Tales from America's National Parks

"An engaging, entertaining, unique and simply fascinating read from cover to cover" -- Midwest Book Review

Our national parks are beautiful and unique places, often serving as an introduction to the outdoors and inspiring an appreciation for nature and wilderness. Similarly, stories and storytelling can serve as an introduction to other places and foster a powerful emotional connection to nature. Campfire Stories brings together tales about our national parks; some are by well-known writers such as John Muir, Bill Bryson, and Terry Tempest Williams, while others are from pioneer diaries or have been passed down through generations of indigenous peoples.

Co-editors Dave and Ilyssa Kyu spent six months traveling and researching the stories collected here. They gathered the best materials from public libraries, historical societies, arts and cultural organizations, museums, research centers, and national park archives. Park rangers, historians, artists, curators, educators, and local residents all offered guidance and suggestions. The goal was to discover entertaining, diverse, and engaging writings that reflect each park's essence--as well as just fun to share. Campfire Stories focuses on these six iconic national parks:

• Acadia National Park
• Great Smoky Mountains National Park
• Rocky Mountain National Park
• Yellowstone National Park
• Yosemite National Park
• Zion National Park

Each story includes an "About this Story" reflection, offering insight into how Dave and Ilyssa discovered the tale, why they selected it, and some background about its writer. Dave and Ilyssa also share their own thoughts on each of the parks they visited, as well as tips on how to be a compelling storyteller.

Author: Dave Kyu,Ilyssa Kyu
Publisher: Mountaineers Books
Published: 06/18/2018
Pages: 224
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 8.50h x 6.20w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9781680511444

About the Author
Kyu, Dave: - Dave Kyu is a socially-engaged artist, writer, and project manager. Born in Seoul, South Korea and raised in the United States, he explores the creative tensions of identity, community, and public space in his work. He has managed public arts projects for the Mural Arts Program, Asian Arts Initiative, and the City of Philadelphia. His own creative projects have found him commissioning skywriting planes to write messages 10,000 feet over Philadelphia, and doing everything Facebook told him to do for a month. His writing has been published in Generocity, the Artblog, and the Philadelphia Citizen.Kyu, Ilyssa: - Ilyssa Kyu is a design researcher at frog, a global creative consultancy, and the founder of Amble, a sabbatical program for creative professionals to take time away with purpose in support of nature conservancies. She has a degree in Industrial Design and previously worked as a designer at the Mayor's Office of Sustainability at the City of Philadelphia, and as a UX designer and design researcher at creative studios in and around Philadelphia. As a facilitator, convener, researcher, and strategist, she applies design-thinking to find clarity in the chaos and unconventional, creative ways of solving problems.