Daniel Skarzynski

ORP: What does success as a writer or artist mean to you?

Daniel Skarzynski: If one person reads and enjoys something I've written, I count that as a win.

ORP: What books have you read many times? 

DS: Desert Solitaire and Lonesome Dove are two classic reads for me.

ORP: What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing or creating? What advice would you give to another writer or artist?

DS: I read an article once about another person living a lifestyle similar to my own — dogs, snow, cabins — who purposely did not write so that it would not influence how he lived. He didn't want to start living just to create content for his stories. He felt it would cheapen things. That made sense to me, and I try to keep that in mind.

ORP: What do you hope readers (or your audience) will take away from your creative work?

DS: I'm lucky enough to live in one of the most intact tracts of wilderness remaining in the world, and sharing that with a wider audience is my chosen form of advocacy for the cause of leaving it untamed. I wouldn't consider myself a nature writer in the traditional sense, but I do think taking a closer look at people living in these remote settings can help serve as a reminder of what else we stand to lose when we destroy the natural world.

Daniel Skarzynski grew up on the East Coast and now lives in Coldfoot, Alaska with fifteen sled dogs and several ravens. He spends his winters running an eighty-mile trapline and his summers waiting for snow. He writes creative nonfiction and fiction. This is his first writing credit.

Read Daniel’s essay “The dogtown pirates” FROM ISSUE 7.1 Here.