"Who as a child (or a restless adult) hasn't dreamed of working in one of our spectacular national parks? If you've ever longed for natural beauty, wildness, or a more expansive life, here's your chance to see what happens to those who follow that dream. As one of the writers puts it, 'Wild places are infused with magic, and they attract the most crazy-wonderful people."---Nancy Lord, former Alaska Writer Laureate and author of Fishcamp, Green Alaska, and Early Warming

Millions of people visit our national parks each year, and some never leave. Permanent Vacation Volume 2 explores the stories from people who have a deep connection to our national parks. Join eighteen authors as they kayak through the Everglades with incognito alligators, demonstrate the practice of the ancient Hawaiian tribes at Pu uhonua o Honaunau, and search for the endangered spotted owl in the forests of the Olympic. This collection of essays will grab you by your hiking boots and lead you through some of our nations most treasured places--including Wisconsin's Apostle Islands--beautifully rendered in Catherine Young's essay.

Catherine Young has worked as a naturalist for the National Park Service, a cultural interpreter, an educator, and farmer. She completed her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia, and her writing has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best American Essays. Her essays and poems have been published nationally and internationally in numerous literary journals and in anthologies including Permanent Vacation II: Eighteen Writers on Work and Life in Our National Parks and The Driftless Reader. 

Rooted in farm life, Catherine lives with her family in Wisconsin's Driftless Area. Her writings and podcasts are available at http://catherineyoungwriter.weebly.com/

Arcadia Books welcomes back former Madison chief of police, pastor, and poet David Couper to discuss his latest collection of poetry, In My 80th Year: Poems of Reflection and Remembrance.
 

Couper has published four other books of poetry: The Sabine Poems, Restoration Point, Eighty-Three, and Segments. His latest book uncovers and addresses an area of his life in which he, up to this time, had not: his life as a police officer. In My 80th Year contains 56 new poems and addresses the harrowing times in the life of a cop, encounters with race and racism, a loving relationship, suicides, and those men and women with whom he has worked over the years.
 

David Couper served as the city’s chief of police from 1972-1993. He also served in the U.S. Marines. After his retirement from policing he attended seminary and was ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church. He currently serves a small parish in North Lake near Milwaukee.