Amber J. Keyser on her novel "The Way Back from Broken"

Host Kathleen Stephenson interviews Oregon writer Amber J. Keyser about her new novel "The Way Back from Broken," which tells the story of two young people thrown together by shared tragedy who find healing in the Canadian wilderness. It draws on Amber Keyser's own deeply personal loss and her lifetime of wilderness canoeing. 

Amber J. Keyser is an evolutionary biologist-turned-writer, who loves stories about heroes, scientists, and adventurers. She grew up in Oregon backpacking, fishing, and white-water rafting. Now she lives on the dry side of the mountains with her husband, two kids, and dog named Gilda. Every summer she returns to a cabin in Canada that was built by her grandmother, Algonquin Park’s first licensed, female canoe guide. If she had a choice, she would travel everywhere by canoe or on horseback. Some of Amber’s forthcoming and recent books include The V-Word (Beyond Words, 2016), an anthology of personal essays by women about first time sexual experiences, and Sneaker Century: A History of Athletic Shoes (Twenty-First Century Books, 2015). She is the co-author with Kiersi Burkhart of the middle grade series Quartz Creek Ranch (Darby Creek, 2017).