Heather Lende’s work, mostly about life and sometimes death in Haines, Alaska, has been distributed widely, from The Anchorage Daily News and Christian Science Monitor to NPR and Country Living. She is a former contributing editor at Woman’s Day magazine and has written some 500 obituaries for the Chilkat Valley News in Haines. The recipient of the Alaska Governor’s Award for Distinguished Service to the Humanities, the Episcopal Bishop of Alaska’s Bishop’s Cross Award, the Suzan Nightingale McKay Best Columnist Award from the Alaska Press Club, Lende was also named Citizen of the Year by Haines Chamber of Commerce. Her bestselling books include If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name, Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs, and Find the Good. Her latest book, Of Bears and Ballots, from Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, was published in June 2020. Read about it here.

Lende and her husband, Chip, live in Haines, where they own a lumberyard and hardware store. They have five children and seven grandchildren (Alaskans all). Her website is heatherlende.com.