About Alys

13329 E. Oceanview Rd
Palmer, AK 99645
907-745-4747

About Alys Culhane

Alys lives in Southcentral Alaska on a 2.5 parcel of land that she and her husband Pete have named Squalor Holler. Their property consists of four cabins and several outbuildings, one of which is a horse shelter and another of which is a combination goat shed chicken coop. Alys is the primary animal caretaker—her charges include two dogs (Rainbow and Jenna) three horses (Raudi, Siggi, and Tinni) three goats (Ranger, Rover, and Peaches) and three chickens (Stubbi, Nimby, and Henny Penny Palin.

Horseback riding is Alys’s number one obsession. Others include running, bicycling, sea kayaking, and cross-country skiing. If there is a connection between the first and the rest it’s that all involve being in motion. When she’s not on the move, Alys is writing about it, and all things related. She’s an essayist, and in the spirit of M.M. Montaigne, she likes to show readers the path of her thinking. This means working in an inductive fashion, or one in which the reader comes to important self-realizations.

Alys Culhane has a Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. She is, along with Pat Bizarro and Devan Cook, the co-authors of Remembering Wendy Bishop: Teachers who Write and Writers who Teach. (Hampton Press). This book is due out in January, 2011.

Alys also has an M.F.A. in Creative Nonfiction writing from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. She is, along with Pete the co-Author of The Alaska Bicycle Touring Guide. (Denali Press). She’s also the author of Road Songs: Essays on Exploring New Zealand by Bicycle (Cornerstone Press).

Alys’s essays, poems, and academic articles have appeared in a wide variety of publications including College Composition and Communication, The Fourth Genre, Writing on the Edge, Iowa Woman Magazine. She’s currently working on a book entitled Raudi’s Story. Part 1 is about how she came to own and train Raudi, and Part II will be about her and Pete’s upcoming Great Divide Horseback Ride.

Alys
Pete
Raudi
Siggi
Tinni
Bootleg
Rainbow
Jenna
Goats
Chickens