Esther Birdsall Darling

author

Esther Birdsall Darling

1868–1965

Best remembered for vivid books about Alaska and sled dogs, she turned her years in Nome into stories and poems that brought frontier life to a wide audience. Her work is closely tied to the early history of dog mushing in Alaska, including the world around the famous All Alaska Sweepstakes.

1 Audiobook

Baldy of Nome

Baldy of Nome

by Esther Birdsall Darling

About the author

Born in 1868, Esther Birdsall Darling was an American author and poet who studied at Mills College and traveled in Europe when she was young. After her marriage, she moved to Nome, Alaska, where she became deeply involved in local life during the gold-rush era.

In Alaska, she helped run a sled dog kennel and wrote about the region with firsthand knowledge and affection. She is especially known for Baldy of Nome, a popular story centered on a champion sled dog, and for other writing that drew on her experiences in the North.

She also wrote poetry and became associated with Alaska's cultural identity as well as its trail and racing history. Darling died in 1965, leaving behind a body of work remembered for its lively picture of early twentieth-century Alaska.