Grew up in the Alaskan Arctic in a multicultural family (Inupiaq/Norwegian)

Researched the effects of oil spills on arctic salt marsh, prime migratory bird habitat in breeding season

Lived and worked in Japan, Taiwan, Israel, Crete and Norway

Teach English at the University of Washington

Working on my next novel set in ancient Norway: a mystery with Sami hunters, witches, Vikings and Celts, and the feminine point of view

Flight of the Goose: A Story of the Far North won first place in the National Federation of Press Women Communications Contest, the Washington Press Association Communicator of Excellence Contest, first place in the Alaska Press Women Communications Contest and was nominated for the Pacific Northwest Bookseller Award

Member of Alaska Writers (http://www.lesleythomas.alaskawriters.com), Alaska Press Women,Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association and the National Federation of Press Women (NFPW)

Nominated by Alaska Press Women to speak at the author roundtable of NFPW conference in 2005

B.A., East Asian Studies

M.A., Teaching English as a Second Language.

Awarded the Monbusho Japanese Ministry of Education Scholarship to study in Japan

Published poet

I will teach at the Kachemak Writers Conference in Homer Alaska June 8-12 2007

Released literary arctic novel Flight of the Goose: A Story of the Far North in Feb 2005, published by Far Eastern Press in Seattle.

Presented with "Friends of Cooper Island" arctic warming scientist Dr. George Divoky, Richard Hugo House in Seattle, Nov. '05.

Upcoming author events: The Snow Goose Art Gallery in Seattle, and In Other Words Bookstore in Portland, Oregon, dates tba

See http://www.lesleythomas.alaskawriters.com for full schedule

Alaska Writers
book cover of Flight of the Goose, rave reviews and endorsements, calendar and links

Publisher: Far Eastern Press
presskit, reviews, past book tour calendar

Flight of the Goose: A Story of the Far North
My literary novel set in the Alaskan Arctic in 1971, part eco-fiction, part cross-cultural love story between a young Native shaman woman and a draft-dodging bird biologist. Released in 2005. Winner of three awards, nominated for the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award. Endorsed by leading arctic anthropologists, Native Alaskans, arctic scientists and literary authors.

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