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Book review: “Out of the Channel” by John Keeble In account of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, fiction writer who was on the scene in 1989 blends empirical data with personal observations Tom Hall PNA Staff Writer
In “Out of the Channel,” fiction writer John Keeble has blended a mountain of empirical data with his observations of place, character and the mundane, presenting a compelling and fascinating account of Alaska’s worst catastrophe since the 1964 earthquake.
Shortly after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, the Village Voice sent fiction writer John Keeble to Alaska to cover the story. A native of Spokane, he chuckled about the truncated view many in the Lower 48 have about traveling to Alaska from Washington. “They had the idea that I could hop in my car and be there in a few hours,” Keeble told PNA during a March 25 interview.
The author was in Anchorage for the symposium, “Legacy of an Oil Spill: 10 Years After Exxon Valdez,” and to promote the second edition of his 1991 book, “Out of the Channel,” released early this year.
With a master of fine arts in writing from the University of Iowa, Keeble is a professor of creative writing at Eastern Washington University and a visiting professor of English at the University of Alabama. As an author, he considers himself very much a “western writer,” and writes about the natural world and big business. Arrived eight days after the spill Eight days after the spill, Keeble arrived in Alaska. He regretted that he wasn’t here the day after it occurred. “That would have made things a little easier,” he said, “because it’s hard to go back and put together what happened.”
Keeble knew immediately that he had to stay.
“When I got up here, I realized that I’d stepped into the real version of what I’d been writing fiction about,” he said. “So the story I had to write was staring me in the face and when that happens, you can’t turn away from it.”
So Keeble wrote two articles for the Village Voice; then he called his editor and told him that he wanted to write a book. He spent the next five to six months interviewing people, gathering data, researching and viewing firsthand the aftermath of the spill. The following year he returned to do more research and completed the book in the fall of 1990.
Since “Out of the Channel” took off in 1991, Keeble has done about 10 magazine pieces. He has returned to Alaska many times since 1991 to continue his research. The newest issue of his book, “the tenth anniversary edition,” includes updated information, corrections, and a completely revised and expanded conclusion.
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