Author Who Hiked Around Lake Michigan Takes Part in Spalding's Festival of Contemporary Writing

Michigander Loreen Niewenhuis walked completely around Lake Michigan. Her book, A 1000-MILE WALK ON THE BEACH, chronicles her adventure of walking the perimeter of the world’s fifth-largest lake. She'll give a reading from her book Friday May 20.
By: Loreen Niewenhuis
 
 
Book that Niewenhuis wrote about her adventure
Book that Niewenhuis wrote about her adventure
May 2, 2011 - PRLog -- When Loreen Niewenhuis turned 45-years-old, she felt compelled to seek out a big challenge. “Instead of having a mid-life crisis,” Niewenhuis said, “I decided to have a mid-life adventure!”  She decided to walk all the way around her favorite place:  Lake Michigan.  In March, Crickhollow Books of Milwaukee published the book about her 1000-mile hike around Lake Michigan, the fifth-largest lake in the world.  

Niewenhuis will read from her book at Spalding University's Festival of Contemporary Writing on Friday, May 20 at the Brown Hotel's Citation Room at 4:15pm.  She will be part of the evening featuring published alumni in the Celebration of Recently Published Alumni.  The full schedule for the festival can be found at http://www.spalding.edu/academics/mfa/

Niewenhuis got her MFA in writing from Spalding University's Low Residency MFA program in 2007.  "Spalding has a fantastic program and exceptional mentors," she said.  "I feel privileged to be returning to Spalding to read along with fellow alumni during the Celebration of Recently Published Alumni portion of the festival."  

Niewenhuis tackled her 1000-mile hike around Lake Michigan in 2009.  It took 64 days of determined walking, averaging 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.

A past medical researcher with a bachelors of science from Calvin College and a masters of science from Wayne State University, she offers witness to both the natural beauty of much of the 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 single 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 of dunes and vistas to small towns and lakefront cottages to the isolated wild stretches where few people go.

She walked the lake in rain and snow, in gale-force winds and calm sunny days. She had to navigate around obstacles ranging from limestone cliffs to deep rivers to steel refineries, 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.  

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

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About Loreen Niewenhuis: 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. She blogs about Great Lakes issues and her website is: http://LakeTrek.com
Contact her at LakeTrek@LNiewenhuis.com
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Source:Loreen Niewenhuis
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