Finally, after a succesful run in the UK, NZ, and Australia, my YA novel Edge of Nowhere will be available in the US and Canada this summer. Edge is one of my most successful books to date, and I hope it does even better in America. Learn more about it at www.johnsmelcer.com/books

I was in Reykjavik, Iceland recently. Had a great time even though it was January (a lot like Alaska). Great restaurants, coffee houses, bistros, and bars. You should go yourself!

My little baby daughter, Ayiana, turned nine months old in July. Here she is on daddy’s bike (and no, I don’t take her for rides). As you can imagine, my life has really changed . . . and all for the better! One of her pink onesies says, “My finger may be small, but I can wrap my daddy around it.” True!

I became a father again (my other daughter is 23 years old and graduated from college in early May)! I’d like to introduce the world to my daughter, Ayiana. She’s lovely and a blessing. She’s so cute and happy and healthy.

On April 21, 2011, I gave a lecture at Harvard University’s Woodberry Library.

My lecture, part of the Woodberry Omniglot Seminars, was about my two Alaska Native dictionaries and my new bilingual poetry book, Beautiful Words: The Complete Ahtna Poems (Truman State UP, 2011).

My visit was sponsored by The Harvard Review.

I recently spent a week in Alaska. Among other things, I attended the World Championship Sled Dog Races in Anchorage and the Junior World Championships the weekend before. Research for my new novel. Got to spend some time at my cabin in Talkeetna, where it was -22F. Had to keep stoking the wood stove to stay warm! Saw ten moose near the cabin!

I’m using my own daughter as the basis for the main character, and I’m going home to Alaska to train as a dog sled musher.

Just got news that Edge of Nowhere was named one of England’s best teenage “Books of 2010″.