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Join us Thursday mornings at 8:20 for Minnesota Reads on Northland Morning, featuring Minnesota authors talking about their work. Funding provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund

MN Reads: "The Barrens" by Kurt Johnson and Ellie Johnson

 Cover of "The Barrens" by Kurt Johnson and Ellie Johnson, a painted illustration of a canoe and paddlers traveling across water under a cloudy sky
Arcade Publishing

The Thelon River in northern Canada offers 500 miles of wild barren landscape. For Ellie Johnson the area yielded a 45-day teenaged-adventure of isolation that ultimately became the resource for the novel The Barrens credited to Ellie and her father Kurt Johnson.

In The Barrens, Lee and Holly set out on the same route taken by Ellie, but the journey is not the adventure they were hoping for. After an accident, Lee finds herself working alone with help nowhere close. Speaking from experience, Ellie recounts the feelings of being far from aid. "I'm not only hours from the nearest hospital... I'm days," says Ellie. "You just have to keep your head down and keep moving."

The father-daughter duo also took efforts to highlight the lives of Holly and Lee beyond the wild environment that makes up the plot. "There were a lot of beers involved," says Kurt Johnson about the conversations that focused on the more intimate details include those regarding sexuality.

The Barrens can be found locally. "They carry it at both Fitger's and Zenith," says Kurt Johnson. "We like to support the local bookstores." The novel is also available online.

Minnesota Reads is produced at The North 103.3 with funding provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

Luke Moravec is the host for Northland Morning on The North 103.3. He’s also a local actor, musician and writer. He loves puzzles, riddles and fun mysteries.
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