Author Who Hiked Around Lake Michigan Continues Book Tour at the Decatur Book Festival in Georgia

Aug. 21, 2011 - PRLog -- When Loreen Niewenhuis turned 45-years-old, she felt compelled to break out of the day-to-day routine and to seek out a big challenge.  She decided to walk all the way around her favorite place:  Lake Michigan.  “Instead of having a mid-life crisis,” Niewenhuis said, “I had a mid-life adventure!”  

In March, Crickhollow Books of Milwaukee published the book about her 1000-mile hike around Lake Michigan, the fifth-largest lake in the world.  The book, A 1000-MILE WALK ON THE BEACH, was awarded a Finalist medal in the Science/Nature/Environment category of the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.   Partners Book Distributing said, "Loreen's book has been the surprise regional bestseller of the season for us. I believe we have sold out of her title at least three times now."  The book has spent several weeks on The Heartland Indie Bestseller List this summer (http://www.midwestbooksellers.org/the-heartland-indie-bestseller-list/).

Niewenhuis has been on her book tour since the spring and is looking forward to heading to Georgia for the Decatur Book Festival, September 2-4.  "I lived in Atlanta in the mid-90s," Niewenhuis said.  "It was a time when Atlanta was transforming from a sleepy, Southern city to a modern metropolis. Hosting the Olympics thrust Atlanta onto the world stage and the city rose to the occasion.  It was an exciting time to live in the city and I'm looking forward to returning for the Decatur Book Festival."  

Niewenhuis tackled her 1000-mile hike around Lake Michigan in 2009.  It took 64 days of determined walking, and she averaged 16 miles a day.  Niewenhuis said, “I encircled the lake with my footsteps, recorded it in my muscles and bones.”

Niewenhuis is an author of literary short stories (she was a finalist for the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction in 2009), a mother, and scientist.  She has been constantly drawn to the shores of Lake Michigan and was the perfect person to undertake the adventure and to write about it with a clear voice, avoiding romanticizing the lake or her own undertaking.

Niewenhuis has worked as a medical researcher in the past.  She has a bachelors of science from Calvin College and a masters of science from Wayne State University.  In her book, she offers witness to both the natural beauty of much of Lake Michigan's lakeshore and a concern for the lake’s health as she explored the long and troubling pattern of ecological abuses and environmental challenges.

Niewenhuis discovered that Lake Michigan, like all great places, is not a uniform experience, but is different each day, every step to round the next bend, each beach or bluff. The hike was a discovery of this incredible variety.  Niewenhuis takes us along on the hike from the urban blight of South Chicago, to the popular state parks with grand dunes and sweeping vistas, to small towns and lakefront cottages, to the isolated wild stretches where few people go.

She walked the lakeshore in rain and snow, in gale-force winds and calm sunny days. She had to navigate obstacles ranging from limestone cliffs to deep rivers to steel refineries, to nuclear and coal-fired power plants.  The journey was filled with many challenges that she had to overcome.  

Niewenhuis explores how vital the Great Lakes water system is to the entire country as these five lakes contain 90% of the fresh surface water in the nation.  Niewenhuis conveys a sense of the magnitude and diversity of the lake she loves, a place elemental to the four Midwestern states that form its shores. From a ground-level perspective, the book explores the natural and human history of Lake Michigan and raises important questions about preserving our wild places and protecting fragile ecosystems.

A 1000-MILE WALK ON THE BEACH will offer inspiration to anyone interested in Great Lakes environmental issues (from invasive species to water quality to tourism) and to anyone interested in what it means to take a really long walk and look closely at oneself and one’s place.  

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical is the largest independent book festival in the country, and the fourth largest overall. This year, more than 300 authors and tens of thousands of festival goers will crowd the historic downtown Decatur Square to enjoy book signings, author readings, panel discussions, an interactive children’s area, live music, parades, cooking demonstrations, poetry slams, writing workshops, and more. For more information, visit http://www.decaturbookfestival.com.

Niewenhuis's complete book tour schedule and a link to her blog can be found on her website http://LakeTrek.com

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Loreen Niewenhuis is the author of A 1000-MILE WALK ON THE BEACH (the account of her hike around Lake Michigan), the novella ATLANTA, and many literary short stories. She gives lectures about the Great Lakes and readings from her work.