Mildred Walker was immediately recognized for the quality of her first fiction in 1934. Fireweed won the prestigious Avery and Jule Hopwood Award. The setting is a small lumber town in Upper Michigan, the stomping grounds of Paul Bunyan and the giants of Swedish, German, and Finnish lore. Young Celie and her husband, Joe Linsen, are the children of Scandinavian pioneers. Radios and flivvers have enlarged her world, and she longs to escape from an isolated place where wild violet fireweed grows to the edge of the woods.
Annick Smith is a freelance writer, editor, and filmmaker. Her story, "It's Come to This," appeared in Best American Short Stories, 1992. She was coeditor, with William Kittredge, of The Last Best Place: A Montana Anthology. Her film credits include Heartland (executive producer) and A River Runs Through It (coproducer).