GUEST: Kelly Ramsey -- A Woman, a Hotshot Crew & the Burning American West

Kelly Ramsey was born in Frankfort, Kentucky. She studied poetry writing at the University of Virginia and earned an MFA in fiction from the University of Pittsburgh. She co-founded The Lighthouse Works, an artists’ residency program on Fishers Island, New York, and later moved to Northern California, where she worked for the U.S. Forest Service as a trail maintenance worker, wilderness ranger, and wildland firefighter on a hotshot crew. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Sierra, Electric Literature, Catapult, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the anthology Letter to a Stranger. She loves creeks, lakes, coffee, the ocean, punishing hikes, diner breakfasts, getting too much sun, and plants—even if their care remains a mystery. She lives in Redding, California, with her partner, their daughter, and their dog, a lab mix who won’t swim named Rookie.Buy the Book! In the exhilarating spirit of Wild and A Walk in the Park, WILDFIRE DAYS is an adventure-filled memoir of a woman’s struggle to succeed as a wildland firefighter on an elite, male-dominated crew as they battle some of the fiercest wildfires in the West.Available in hardcover, eBook, and unabridged audiobook (narrated by the author). Use the link above or look for WILDFIRE DAYS at your favorite independent bookstore. If money is an issue, ask your local library to order some copies!Publisher: Scribner (Simon & Schuster)