Kira Salak
Encyclopedia
Kira Salak is an American writer
, adventurer, and journalist
known for her travels in Mali
and Papua New Guinea
. She has written two books of nonfiction and a book of fiction based on her travels and is a contributing editor at National Geographic magazine.
. Her mother was a waitress and her father repaired mainframe computers. When Salak was 13, her parents sent her to boarding school in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin
where she participated in cross-country activities and set a state level track record when she was 14. Though she began training for National and Olympic trials, she dropped out of the sport and decided to travel instead. Kira Salak received her B.F.A. in writing, literature and publishing from Emerson College
. She received her M.F.A. in creative writing (fiction) from the University of Arizona
. In 2004, she graduated from the University of Missouri
, with a Ph.D. in English; her two areas of specialization were 20th century American prose literature and travel literature.
" and Book Magazine
described her as “the gutsiest — and some say, craziest — woman adventurer of our day.”)
Several of Salak's short stories have been published in journals such as Prairie Schooner, The Massachusetts Review
, Quarterly West
and Witness
. One story, "Beheadings", about a war correspondent’s search for her lost brother, is published in the anthology Best New American Voices.
According to Salak, she started writing at the age of six. After the death of her brother, Marc, in 2005, Salak took a year off from her magazine work to write her first novel The White Mary. In an interview, she described the experience:
Salak now writes regularly for National Geographic Adventure, National Geographic, and other magazines about her travels to places which include Iran
, Rwanda
, Libya
, Burma, Borneo
, Uganda
and Peru
. In 2003, she convinced some Ukrainian gun-runners to fly her to the war-ravaged east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
. Salak stayed in the Congolese town of Bunia
, which was taken over by child soldiers, and experienced “the worst that human beings could do to each other, an endless parade of barbarism.” She received a PEN literary award for her article about that experience,. Her articles have also appeared in publications that include the New York Times Magazine, Travel & Leisure, The Washington Post
, and Backpacker
, and her work has appeared five times in Best American Travel Writing. Her fiction was selected for Best New American Voices (judged by Charles Baxter). Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in various anthologies, including Adrenaline 2002: The Year's Best Stories of Adventure and Survival, The Best Women’s Travel Writing, and Nixon Under the Bodhi Tree and Other Works of Buddhist Fiction.
’s prime-time news show, The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos. She has been profiled in: The New York Times Book Review, Glamour, Vogue, The Observer, The Times, NY Post, Travel & Leisure, National Geographic, Book Magazine, National G
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, adventurer, and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
known for her travels in Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
and Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
. She has written two books of nonfiction and a book of fiction based on her travels and is a contributing editor at National Geographic magazine.
Early life
Kira Salak was born in 1971 in a western suburb of ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. Her mother was a waitress and her father repaired mainframe computers. When Salak was 13, her parents sent her to boarding school in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin
Beaver Dam, Wisconsin
Beaver Dam is a city in Dodge County, Wisconsin, United States, along Beaver Dam Lake and the Beaver Dam River. The population was 16,243 at the 2010 census, making it the second largest city in Dodge County, and the largest city fully located within the county. It is the principal city of the...
where she participated in cross-country activities and set a state level track record when she was 14. Though she began training for National and Olympic trials, she dropped out of the sport and decided to travel instead. Kira Salak received her B.F.A. in writing, literature and publishing from Emerson College
Emerson College
Emerson College is a private coeducational university located in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," Emerson is "the only comprehensive college or university in America dedicated exclusively to communication and the arts in a liberal arts...
. She received her M.F.A. in creative writing (fiction) from the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
. In 2004, she graduated from the University of Missouri
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...
, with a Ph.D. in English; her two areas of specialization were 20th century American prose literature and travel literature.
Career
At the age of 24, Salak took a year off graduate school to backpack around Papua New Guinea, the Pacific Island nation, and became the first woman to cross the country. Her first book, Four Corners: One Woman’s Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea, describes that journey. After the book was published, an editor of National Geographic Adventure magazine asked her to write for the magazine and Salak's career as a freelance writer began. Salak gained a reputation for being a tough woman adventurer, surviving war zones, coup attempts, and life-threatening bouts with malaria and cholera (the New York Times described her as a "tough, real life Lara CroftLara Croft
Lara Croft is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Square Enix video game series Tomb Raider. She is presented as a beautiful, intelligent, and athletic British archaeologist-adventurer who ventures into ancient, hazardous tombs and ruins around the world...
" and Book Magazine
Book Magazine
Book Magazine was an American bi-monthly popular literary magazine founded in 1998 by Mark Gleason and Jerome Kramer and published by West Egg Communications...
described her as “the gutsiest — and some say, craziest — woman adventurer of our day.”)
Several of Salak's short stories have been published in journals such as Prairie Schooner, The Massachusetts Review
The Massachusetts Review
The Massachusetts Review is a national literary journal founded in 1959 by a group of professors from Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst....
, Quarterly West
Quarterly West
Quarterly West is a prominent American literary magazine based at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Stories that have appeared in Quarterly West have been shortlisted for the Pushcart Prize, The Best American Short Stories and the O...
and Witness
Witness
A witness is someone who has firsthand knowledge about an event, or in the criminal justice systems usually a crime, through his or her senses and can help certify important considerations about the crime or event. A witness who has seen the event first hand is known as an eyewitness...
. One story, "Beheadings", about a war correspondent’s search for her lost brother, is published in the anthology Best New American Voices.
According to Salak, she started writing at the age of six. After the death of her brother, Marc, in 2005, Salak took a year off from her magazine work to write her first novel The White Mary. In an interview, she described the experience:
- "I wrote the entire book not long after my brother died. It was like an obsession. I lived in a tiny basement apartmentBasement apartmentA basement apartment is an apartment located below street level, underneath another structure—usually an apartment building, but possibly a house or a business. Rent in basement apartments is usually much lower than it is in above-ground units, due to a number of deficiencies common to basement...
in Columbia, MissouriColumbia, MissouriColumbia is the fifth-largest city in Missouri, and the largest city in Mid-Missouri. With a population of 108,500 as of the 2010 Census, it is the principal municipality of the Columbia Metropolitan Area, a region of 164,283 residents. The city serves as the county seat of Boone County and as the...
, unemployed for a year. I didn’t tell anyone what I was doing. It was a very private experience. I almost feel that the book wasn’t so much written by me, but channeled through me."
Salak now writes regularly for National Geographic Adventure, National Geographic, and other magazines about her travels to places which include Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
, Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
, Burma, Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
, Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
and Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
. In 2003, she convinced some Ukrainian gun-runners to fly her to the war-ravaged east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
. Salak stayed in the Congolese town of Bunia
Bunia
Bunia is a city in Democratic Republic of the Congo and is the headquarters of Ituri Interim Administration in the Ituri region of Orientale Province....
, which was taken over by child soldiers, and experienced “the worst that human beings could do to each other, an endless parade of barbarism.” She received a PEN literary award for her article about that experience,. Her articles have also appeared in publications that include the New York Times Magazine, Travel & Leisure, The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, and Backpacker
Backpacker (magazine)
Backpacker Magazine is an American publication that features information on wilderness hiking and adventure. It has been published since 1973. Backpacker magazine is currently published by Active Interest Media and is based in Boulder, Colorado...
, and her work has appeared five times in Best American Travel Writing. Her fiction was selected for Best New American Voices (judged by Charles Baxter). Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in various anthologies, including Adrenaline 2002: The Year's Best Stories of Adventure and Survival, The Best Women’s Travel Writing, and Nixon Under the Bodhi Tree and Other Works of Buddhist Fiction.
Awards
- Salak received the PEN AwardPEN American CenterPEN American Center , founded in 1922 and based in New York City, works to advance literature, to defend free expression, and to foster international literary fellowship. The Center has a membership of 3,300 writers, editors, and translators...
for journalism in 2004 and has appeared five times in Best American Travel Writing. - In 2005, the National Geographic Society awarded Salak with an Emerging Explorer Award.
- She has been awarded two Lowell Thomas Gold Awards for Best Foreign Article and Environmental Reporting.
- She has been awarded the AWP/ Prague Fellowship Award in creative nonfiction.
Accomplishments
- Kira Salak is described by the National Geographic SocietyNational Geographic SocietyThe National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...
's website as being the "first documented person to kayakKayakA kayak is a small, relatively narrow, human-powered boat primarily designed to be manually propelled by means of a double blade paddle.The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each seating one paddler...
solo 966km down the Niger riverNiger RiverThe Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea...
" and by the New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
as "a real-life Lara CroftLara CroftLara Croft is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Square Enix video game series Tomb Raider. She is presented as a beautiful, intelligent, and athletic British archaeologist-adventurer who ventures into ancient, hazardous tombs and ruins around the world...
". - Salak has been selected by the Library of CongressLibrary of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
for its "Women Who Dare" publications, which highlight the world's top women explorers and leaders. - She was the first woman to cross Papua New Guinea, following the route taken by British explorer Ivan Champion in 1927.
Media
Salak was profiled on the CBS Evening News. She has appeared on the CBCCanadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
’s prime-time news show, The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos. She has been profiled in: The New York Times Book Review, Glamour, Vogue, The Observer, The Times, NY Post, Travel & Leisure, National Geographic, Book Magazine, National G
Books
- Four Corners: A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea, National Geographic Books, 2004: an account of her journey across Papua New Guinea, retracing the 1927 route of explorer Ivan Champion.
- The Cruelest Journey: Six Hundred miles to Timbuktu, National Geographic Books, 2004: an account of her 600-mile journey down the Niger RiverNiger RiverThe Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea...
from Old Segou, MaliMaliMali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
, to TimbuktuTimbuktuTimbuktu , formerly also spelled Timbuctoo, is a town in the West African nation of Mali situated north of the River Niger on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. The town is the capital of the Timbuktu Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali...
, following the route taken by the explorer Mungo ParkMungo Park (explorer)Mungo Park was a Scottish explorer of the African continent. He was credited as being the first Westerner to encounter the Niger River.-Early life:...
. - The White MaryThe White MaryThe White Mary is Kira Salak's third book and her first novel.- Plot:For years, war reporter Marika Vecera has risked her life, traveling to the world’s most dangerous places to offer a voice for the oppressed and suffering. But one day her luck nearly runs out: while covering the genocide in...
, Henry Holt & Co., 2008: a novel concerning a traumatised war reporter, Marika Vecera, who embarks on a journey into Papua New Guinea to investigate a mysterious letter claiming that a Pulitzer-winning journalist, generally reported as having committed suicide, has been seen alive in a remote jungle there.