Joan Crosby
Cook County News- Herald columnist Joan Crosby was recently notified that her excellent book “Tucker Lake Chronicle” has been selected as a finalist for the Northeast Minnesota Book Awards and the Midwest Independent Publishers Association awards.
Unfortunately, said Crosby, the Northeast Minnesota Book Awards ceremony has been postponed until 2021, when a combined event will be held Thursday, May 20, 2021, in the Kirby Ballroom on the UMD campus.
However, the 2020 Midwest Independent Publishers Association (MIPA) awards will be presented via a Facebook live watch party on June 27, 2020.
A panel of 99 MIPA volunteer judges who narrowed the field to 88 finalists across 31 categories selected Joan’s book.
Tucker Lake Chronicle is the story of how Joan and Dick Crosby lived off the grid in a small makeshift cabin on Tucker Lake for 13 months. It was 1969 and the young couple had made the decision to leave their jobs and the Twin Cities behind and live with none of the comforts of a modern society. There were many trials by fire.
With no road leading to their cabin, which was on the edge of the BWCAW, they had to hike and canoe in and out in the summer and snowmobile (when it worked) or snowshoe to get supplies in the winter.
Their one luxury was Nooky, a malamute puppy. But Nooky was a lot of work, too.
While they gamely figured out how to live without electricity, without running water, without a phone or a TV or indoor plumbing, the couple planned their future. Through it all Joan kept a diary of daily events and over the years shared these stories with Cook County News-Herald readers. Several years ago, Joan decided to combine her work into one book, the Tucker Lake Chronicle, so she could share her and Dick’s adventure with a wider audience. It’s a great book and can be found locally at Drury Lane Books, Lake Superior Trading Post and Birch Bark Books & Gifts in Grand Marais.
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