Evan Swensen

Articles

Evan Swensen

The Red Pen We All Carry

“No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else’s draft.” — H.G. Wells Writers know the truth of those words …

Evan Swensen

Don’t Launch to an Empty Room: How to Build Your Audience Before the Book Is Out

Here’s your story, fully formatted for Medium. It follows Medium’s conventions: clear subheadings, italics for book titles, a strong lede, and an ending that invites …

Evan Swensen

Flip, Don’t Scroll: The Fun Science Behind Paper Power

Back when I was young — before “screen time” entered the vocabulary — reading meant sitting by a window in the big red wingback chair, …

Evan Swensen

Writing Without Living Is Vanity

“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.” Henry David Thoreau wasn’t criticizing writers — he …

Evan Swensen

Gravity of a Single Word

It happened in a place so quiet, even paper turning felt like a disruption. The room, a modest university lecture hall in Pennsylvania, smelled faintly …

Evan Swensen

The Trouble With Words That Can’t Make Up Their Minds

Fun Trivia About the Words That Say One Thing — and the Opposite I live in a town where people argue over everything — except …

Evan Swensen

I don’t know

Wislawa Szymborska’s line—“Poets, if they’re genuine, must always keep repeating, ‘I don’t know’”—echoes the humility at the heart of both poetry and wisdom. She wasn’t …

Evan Swensen

Measured by Letters, Remembered by Readers

In the English alphabet, each letter holds a position: A is 1, B is 2, C is 3, and so on through Z at 26. …

Evan Swensen

Meet the World’s Fastest Reader

The Man Who Could Read a Book Over Lunch — and Dessert Too Every so often, a bit of trivia floats by, grabbing your attention, …

Evan Swensen

Wit, Faith, and Fiction

“I often wonder if we were all characters in one of God’s dreams.” With these words, Muriel Spark pierced the boundary between the seen and …

Evan Swensen

From Me to We

“How do I write a memoir both personal and universally relatable?” It’s a question often asked in quiet tones, almost sheepishly, as if sharing a …

Evan Swensen

Scandal, Seduction, and Suicide

The First American Novel Was a Scandal America’s very first novel wasn’t a story of patriotism, politics, or pioneers. It was a full-blown scandal wrapped …

Podcasts

Alaska Outdoors MagazineEvan Swensen

Alan’s First Fish

Alaska Outdoors MagazineEvan Swensen

Alone with Bears

Alaska Outdoors MagazineEvan Swensen

Betty’s First Fish

 

Alaska Outdoors MagazineEvan Swensen

Blake’s First Fish

 

Alaska Outdoors MagazineEvan Swensen

Carrie’s First Fish

 

Alaska Outdoors MagazineEvan Swensen

Catch Um Again for the First Time

Alaska Outdoors MagazineEvan Swensen

Charlie’s Afternoon Moose

 

Alaska Outdoors MagazineEvan Swensen

Charlie’s Bear

 

Alaska Outdoors MagazineEvan Swensen

Charlie’s Dall Sheep

 

Alaska Outdoors MagazineEvan Swensen

Charlie’s Deer

 

Alaska Outdoors MagazineEvan Swensen

Charlie’s Denali Moose

 

Alaska Outdoors MagazineEvan Swensen

Charlie’s Fifth Moose

 

Evan, who lives in Anchorage, has 9 children, 25 grandchildren, and 6 great grandchildren. As a pilot, he has logged more than 4,000 hours of flight time in Alaska, in both wheel and float planes. He is a serious recreation hunter and fisherman, equally comfortable casting a flyrod or using bait, or lures. He has been published in many national magazines and is the author of four books.

Login/out