Kate Harris

Kate Harris is a writer with a knack for getting lost. Her first book, Lands of Lost Borders, about biking the Silk Road instead of going to Mars, was a national bestseller that won several awards for literary nonfiction. It has been translated into multiple languages. When not wandering the world on ill-advised expeditions or as part of the Earth Negotiations Bulletin team, she lives off-grid in a cabin on Taku River Tlingit territory in Atlin, BC. She also spends a few months each year in Toronto for her wife’s job, where they delight in the temporary perks of hot showers, indoor plumbing, and vast libraries.

Website: kateharris.ca
Instagram/Threads: @kateoffmars

FESTIVAL BOOKS

Going to See: 30 Writers on Nature, Inspiration, and the World of Barry Lopez

Edited by James Perrin Warren and Kurt Caswell

Barry Lopez was not only a writer, but also a traveler, visionary, and someone with a deep love for humanity and the natural world. Going to See illuminates how the stories he shared with us were like stones in a pond, sending ripples throughout not just a world of readers, but also a network of writers. Here, 30 of those writers reflect on Lopez’s tremendous influence on their work and their lives. Contributors include Rick Bass, David James Duncan, Gretel Ehrlich, Kate Harris, and Deborah A. Miranda.

From stories of intimate conversations with Lopez, to insightful examinations of his writing and outdoor experiences, to deeply heartfelt tributes about his generosity of spirit, what emerges is a “many-sided” portrait of Lopez, as co-editor James Perrin Warren writes. It’s also a celebration of the fellowship of writers that Lopez helped create, writers who are committed to serving the natural world, human and nonhuman communities, and the planet we all share.

GET THE BOOK

Owl’s Nest Books | Calgary Public Library

Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Road

“Every day on a bike trip is like the one before–but it is also completely different, or perhaps you are different, woken up in new ways by the mile.”

As a teenager, Kate Harris realized that the career she most craved—that of a generalist explorer, equal parts swashbuckler and philosopher—-had gone extinct. From her small-town home in Ontario, it seemed as if Marco Polo, Magellan and their like had long ago mapped the whole earth. So she vowed to become a scientist and go to Mars.

To pass the time before she could launch into outer space, Harris set off by bicycle down a short section of the fabled Silk Road with her childhood friend Mel Yule, then settled down to study at Oxford and MIT. Eventually the truth dawned on her: an explorer, in any day and age, is by definition the kind of person who refuses to live between the lines. And Harris had soared most fully out of bounds right here on Earth, travelling a bygone trading route on her bicycle. So she quit the laboratory and hit the Silk Road again with Mel, this time determined to bike it from the beginning to end.

Like Rebecca Solnit and Pico Iyer before her, Harris offers a travel narrative at once exuberant and meditative, wry and rapturous. Weaving adventure and deep reflection with the history of science and exploration, Lands of Lost Borders explores the nature of limits and the wildness of a world that, like the self and like the stars, can never be fully mapped.

GET THE BOOK

Owl’s Nest Books | Calgary Public Library

BE CURIOUSER

• Exemplary travel writing: inspiring, moving, heartfelt, and often breathtaking. –Kirkus Reviews
• A bikepacker sees way more than Marco Polo ever did. –Kate Harris, Outside