Don Rearden Dedicates Novel to Memory of Seketl’e Jacobs - GalleyCat

Click below to read the Galley Cat story about the auction for Seketl'e:

Don Rearden Dedicates Novel to Memory of Seketl’e Jacobs - GalleyCat

What we can learn from the Spirit of a Little Warrior

Thanks to so many of you, particularly the generous folks from the YK Delta, the book auction was a success. We raised a bunch of money to help Torin & Helena.
Margaret Chase won out in a heated last minute bidding war for over $400 --- all of which has been put into the Seketl'e Jacobs fund at Wells Fargo, where you can still make a donation.

A Little Alaskan Warrior, Seketl'e Jacobs

Margaret's daughter's name, Panika, will go into my new book. I can't thank Margaret enough, along with all of you who checked out the auction and put in a bid. Quyana-cakneq! Many thanks.
The spirit of Seketl'e Jacobs continues to inspire so many of us. He fought an epic battle and taught us all a little something about life and love in the process. Cherish those who are close to you, especially the little ones, and when you yourself feel blue, remember how this little warrior fought with all he had and pick up the fight where he left off and don't ever give up.

Help Seketl'e Jacobs! And Get Your name in My New Novel!

Seketl'e Jacobs

Get your name in a novel and help an Alaskan baby!

Seketl'e is just three weeks old and his condition is called hepatic hemangioendothelioma. It is a rare condition of the liver, with his being more rare due to the abnormally large size of his liver. He is at the Children's Hospital in Seattle and will be getting a liver transplant; he has been placed at the top of the donor list. The surgery is expected to take place in the next few days.

This is an auction to help Seketl'e Jacobs, son of Torin and Helena Jacobs. If you win the auction you will have your name used as a character in my new novel Moving Salmon Bay, and receive a signed copy of an original manuscript, and a signed copy of my debut novel The Raven's Gift (Penguin Canada, 2011). *This is an unpublished novel going out to editors in the US next week.

All proceeds will go towards the fund in Seketl'e Jacobs name at Wells Fargo. (Even if you don't win the auction, please donate to the fund at any Wells Fargo or Wachovia bank.)

About Moving Salmon Bay:

Moving Salmon Bay offers an intimate glimpse in the contemporary lives of an impoverished rural community suffering from the effects of global warming: melting permafrost, failing salmon runs, and rising seas. Readers will fall in love with the eclectic tapestry of unique characters and their struggles as the strands of each of their stories converge in a powerful story of redemption and hope. 

Sustenance For Sale... A poem

I wrote this poem Jan 10th, 2011 after reading about an auction happening in NYC. I couldn't bear to instigate the outcome...Only today to learn it sold for 4.6 million.





Sustenance For Sale

In New York City a Yup'ik mask
sits in a display case
as they ready for auction
whispers of prices in the millions
for the mask of sustenance
this very mask that brought 
the warm southwinds

three lifetimes of winters ago
a Yup'ik man crafted this mask
with feather, sinew, wood, bone
transporting the shaman
to a world where he could 
speak with the spirits
bringing seals and spring

and now, when the gavel drops
that sustenance will be sold
to the highest bidder