News and Interviews
How I ended up writing about the ghost town of McCarthy, Alaska in two non-fiction books. A podcast conversation with host Andrew Gray for his public affairs show, East Anchorage Book Club. January, 2024
The challenges of writing about rural Alaska in The Wake of the Unseen Object, reissued recently by the University of Alaska Press. A podcast conversation with host Andrew Gray for his public affairs show, East Anchorage Book Club. September, 2023
National Public Radio names Cold Mountain Path as one of two books tourists should read before visiting Alaska (June 2022). “This is a story about the Alaska that we once were and that I think many of us feel we are losing,” says Alaska writer laureate Heather Lende.
Alaska Public Radio interview with Tom about book and career, on the occasion of his award as 2022 Historian of the Year from the Alaska Historical Society. October 27, 2022.
Anchorage Daily News review of Cold Mountain Path by David James, Jan. 15, 2022. “This is a beautiful book.”
The End of the Road podcast. Part one, 22 minutes. Tom discusses Cold Mountain Path on this presentation by the Wrangell Mountains Center. Part two, 20 minutes, focuses on the 1983 murders.
“Three Ways of Seeing a Ghost Town” - Historical talk with photographs to Cook Inlet Historical Society, Nov. 18, 2021. Hosted by Anchorage Museum - sign in to watch. One hour including questions.
Talk of Alaska - recovering ghost town stories. An hourlong conversation between Tom, Jeremy Pataky of Porphyry Press, and Alaska Public Radio’s Adelyn Baxter about Cold Mountain Path. Oct. 5, 2021. Listen here.
“The Impermanent Past: Ghost Towns and Invisible Cities.” Keynote speech by Tom to annual convention of the Alaska Historical Society, Oct. 7, 2021.
Brevity literary non-fiction blog review of Cold Mountain Path by Vivian Wagner, Feb. 4, 2022. “It’s a story of paradoxes and contradictions, of human settlement and wilderness, and of the challenges involved in navigating multiple truths.”
Kenai Conversation - an hourlong interview by KDLL’s Sabine Poux about the counterpoint of ghost towns to Alaska’s pioneer-success narrative, and to the stories Kenai Peninsula towns tell about themselves. Listen here.
Homer News story about Tom and Cold Mountain Path, Nov. 4, 2021.
Cordova Times story discusses the new book’s mix of humor and tragedy, and Tom’s many visits through the years to Cordova. Nov. 15, 2021.
Tom’s new introduction to The Wake of the Unseen Object, discussing the rewards and challenges of being a white guy reporting on Alaska Native village life, was excerpted in the Anchorage Daily News. Included: a link to a story from the book set in Teller on the Seward Peninsula. Nov. 13, 2021.
Replay of the Zoom book launch for Cold Mountain Path, Nov. 3, 2021, an hour-long reading, story-telling, and Q&A. Bonus track: Jeremy Pataky gets the first 13 minutes to talk about founding Porphyry Press.
Replay of the live hometown launch at Homer’s Pratt Museum, Nov. 5, 2021. Includes stories of the drug dealer Raven and the spiritual seeker Amy Ashenden, who gave the book its title.
“Every state has an infamous crime - and a book about it.” Pilgrim’s Wilderness named Alaska’s best True Crime book in “50 States of True Crime,” New York Times Book Review, July 2019.
Zoom book launch for new edition of The Wake of the Unseen Object (University of Alaska Press Classic Reprint Series)
Watch the replay discussion with series editor Eric Heyne as Tom takes questions, December 2020.
Tom’s interview with Melissa Block about Pilgrim’s Wilderness on “All Things Considered” 2013
An Evening with Tom Kizzia. Anchorage public television interview with Steve Lindbeck. 2014.
Writing about Alaska. A public radio conversation with Tom, Eowyn Ivey and Charles Wohlforth, 2016.
Faith and Madness on the Alaska Frontier. A podcast interview with the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, 2013.
Hillbilly Heaven: Hell on Earth. An interview with Interfaith Voices, NPR program on religions, 2013. Includes recordings of several songs by the Pilgrim Family.
Radio Free Palmer interview. 2013
Business Insider “Must-read recommendations for summer 2014: Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, James Patterson, John Grisham - and me…”
Events
Feb. 1, 2024. Tom will host a Zoom conversation with novelists Jess Walter and John Straley for Homer’s Big Read celebration, Homer Public Library.
March, 2023. Tom was on a panel of Alaska writers at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs annual meeting in Seattle, Wa.
November, 2022. Tom gave a public talk/reading at Murie Auditorium on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus as part of the English Department’s Midnight Sun writers series. Evening. During the week, Tom met with journalism/feature writing students and spoke to an Alaska History class about Cold Mountain Path.
June, 2022. Tom gave a book talk at Kennecott Recreation Hall, McCarthy—Kennecot, sponsored by Porphyry Press, McCarthy-Kennicott Historical Museum and Wrangell Mountains Center. Followed by a fundraising dinner for museum at the McCarthy Lodge and a reading at the Hardware Store.
Summer, 2022. Tom was a guest speaker on several Princess Cruise ships plying the Alaska coastline.