Author Peter Heller at Inkberry Books - kayak adventures, American secessionists and a passion for writing

On Wednesday, Aug. 28, internationally acclaimed author Peter Heller spoke to an audience of more than 50 people at Inkberry Books in Niwot. The temperature reached 91 degrees outside before cloud cover cooled things down, and it turned out to be a perfect summer evening to hear Heller read from his new novel, "Burn."

He began the reading with the opening scene from the book, a novel about two lifelong friends who emerge from the woods of rural Maine to a dystopian country wracked by violence. U.S. troops are fighting local secessionists. The friends try to escape the battle, but they are forced to engage.

A longtime contributor to NPR and a former contributing editor at Outside Magazine, Men's Journal, and National Geographic Adventure, Heller is an award-winning adventure writer and the author of four books of literary nonfiction, including "Kook: What Surfing Taught Me About Love, Life, and Catching the Perfect Wave," as well as the acclaimed novels, "The Dog Stars," "The River, Celine," and "The Last Ranger."

Born and raised in New York, Heller attended high school in Vermont and then Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where he learned to kayak while also earning a bachelor's degree in English in 1982. He took a detour from his career in outdoor adventure writing to study fiction and poetry at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he received an MFA in fiction and poetry in 1994.

Heller talked about finding inspiration for writing early in life while reading Hemmingway, and coming to Boulder in 1989 to concentrate on writing and pursue kayaking and skiing. He worked odd jobs and wrote poetry. His big break came in 1988, when he convinced Outside Magazine to send him to Tibet to write a story about the first kayak descent of the Dadu River.

Heller captivated the audience with his account of the journey. When one of the kayaks capsized, he helped save several kayakers from the treacherous water. In 1992 he collected that story and several others in his first book, "Set Free in China."

Local author Jim Mitchell attended the presentation and said, "Heller can weave his personal real life experiences into his fictional narrative and it gives his work a delicious authentic flavor."