author
Barrett Willoughby
d. 1959
A bestselling early 20th-century novelist, she brought Alaska vividly to life in romantic fiction and nonfiction that helped make her one of the territory’s most recognizable literary voices. Her books mixed adventure, local color, and a deep affection for the North she knew so well.
1 Audiobook
Where the Sun Swings North
by Barrett Willoughby
About the author
Born Florence Barrett in Alaska in 1901, Barrett Willoughby wrote under a pen name and became known for fiction and nonfiction centered on Alaskan life. She published from the 1920s through the 1940s, and contemporary reference sources describe her as a bestselling writer whose work often drew on the places and culture of the North.
She was especially remembered for helping introduce Alaska to a wider reading public through popular storytelling. Her reputation was strong enough that later writers and researchers referred to her as an important early Alaskan novelist, and some of her work reached the screen as well.
Willoughby died on July 29, 1959, in Berkeley, California. Though she is less widely known today than some of her contemporaries, her work still stands out for its strong sense of place and for the way it turned Alaskan settings into the heart of popular narrative.