NOTE: Hunters of the Dream will be available at Amazon from February 22 to March 20 for only $0.99
During her virtual book tour, Ingrid will be awarding an Eco Heart Oracle Deck valued at $28 US, (the Eco Heart Oracle is an integral part of the Hunters of the Dream trilogy). To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!
Ingrid
Koivukangas, BFA, MFA, is an award winning environmental artist, writer,
designer, Reiki Master and educator.
As an
artist Ingrid works intuitively at sites creating new works in response to
sites and their energies and histories both natural and human. Her work
encompasses many media including site specific ephemeral, large scale public
works, writing, video, photography, sound, web, sculpture, painting, drawing
and printmaking.
Ingrid's
artworks have been exhibited in Canada, the USA, Europe and Asia. She's been
featured as an artist in residence on CBC-TV; has had numerous gallery
exhibitions; has many site specific ephemeral works left in situ and large
scale permanent public art projects.
Ingrid's
artworks have been included in many publications and books including: Art in
Action: Nature, Creativity and Our Collective Future, published by the Natural
World Museum and the United Nations Environmental Programme and Art + Science
Now: How scientific research and technological innovation are becoming key to
21st-century aesthetics by Stephen Wilson, Professor of Conceptual and
Information Arts at San Francisco State University. One of her favourite
publications to be included in is Scholastic Book's Now See This! Art That
Influences.
Ingrid has
a Bachelor of Fine Arts, with Distinction, from the University of British
Columbia Okanagan and a Master of Fine Arts, Environmental Sculpture, from the
University of Calgary. You can view her work at: www.ingridkoivukangas.com
Ingrid
lives on Salt Spring Island with her husband Robin, two dogs, Lucy and Scout,
and a fierce cat named Hunter.
Welcome, Ingrid. Please share a little bit about your current release:
When the summer holidays begin, Aurora thinks she’s just a normal teenager about to have another boring summer. Then, for her seventeenth birthday, Nana Brin gives her a long-silent Oracle that has been passed down through their family for generations. The mysterious Oracle soon awakens in response to the creeping Darkness that is escaping and destroying all worlds. Aurora must quickly find the courage to come to terms with her calling as the Huntress of the Dream.
What inspired you to write this book?
I had a
busy practice as an environmental artist and was also a professor teaching fine
art at a college, before moving to, Salt Spring Island. For years I had been
wondering how to write about, and share, my experiences working with Spirit and
the natural world in a fictional way. At the time, I didn’t want to write a
non-fiction book around the topic. I believe that fiction allows readers to
engage in story through the imagination without engaging the analytic brain,
whose job it is to question whether or not what one is reading is ‘real’.
Within a year of moving to Salt Spring Island the characters began arriving and
with them pieces of the story. Their stories began to interweave with some of
my dreams and experiences of working with Spirit and energy….and so Hunters of
the Dream was born.
Excerpt from Hunters of the Dream:
The Bone Seer placed the bone into Aurora’s hand. As soon as
it touched her skin, she understood that it came from the Sacred Reindeer and
that, with this one small bone, she could call forth the protection of the
entire herd by casting the bone in a time of need. The bone, also able to sense
danger, instructed Aurora to listen with her heart in times of doubt or
uncertainty; she would receive answers. She put the bone into a small, beaded
leather pouch that had somehow materialized on her hip. She looked at the
pouch, tracing the beaded outline of a reindeer with her finger.
As the Bone Seer began to pickup another bone, she
hesitated, cocking her head from side to side, as if listening to someone
speaking. She breathed in sharply, surprised, and suddenly frightened, and in a
high pitched voice began singing:
The wise one will
read the signs,
As the all seeing one awakens,
When the drum woman travels,
And the compass unravels,
And he, who swims between worlds,
Joins the one who sparks and twirls,
The broken wing is set free,
The wolves howl and protect thee,
Gathering under a double moon,
Agreements hewn,
The Huntress is born again,
As Darkness slips its chains.
Looking directly into Aurora’s eyes she hissed, “The
Darkness is waking, Aurora. There are many teachings you must complete, and
amulets and allies to gather in preparation for the battles ahead. You must
find your fellow hunters before the Darkness escapes and finds you, or all will
be lost.
What exciting story are you working on next?
I’m excited to be working on the second of the Hunters of the Dream trilogy, Book Two: Darkness Approaching. I can’t wait to find out what happens next!
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I have been
writing for most of my life, but never really considered myself a Writer until
I held the first print copy of Hunters of
the Dream in my hands. It was in that moment I realized that I had crossed
the threshold from writing to writer.
Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I am writing full-time. When I say that I ‘writing full-time’ that includes the business of writing, the marketing– which is much more time consuming than I ever imagined. The business side seems to take more time than the actual writing! During the winters I can work from morning to night writing, but soon spring will be arriving and that’s when I will need to begin splitting my time between working on our farm and writing. I also still have a practice as an environmental artist, but that work is project based and depends on when, and where, I’m invited to create new work in response to sites.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I like having my, amethyst and quartz, crystals on my writing desk beside a lit candle. I meditate before I begin inviting the story forward.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I had a
very active and busy imagination. These are things I remember that I wanted to
be–I’m sure there were more: Adventurer. Archaeologist. Astronaut. Spock.
Batman. A librarian. Mary Poppins. An artist. A writer. A cowboy. A musician. A
yogi (I know, that’s a weird one, isn’t it?)
Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
The
characters in Hunters of the Dream
are guided by the Eco Heart Oracle, a 48 card oracle deck, that I created.
Readers can get a free online oracle reading here: bit.ly/FreeEcoHeartOracleReading
Thank you
for inviting me to be a guest on your blog, Lisa!
Links:
NOTE: Hunters of the Dream will be available at Amazon from February 22 to March 20 for only $0.99
Happy to have you here today, Ingrid.
6 comments:
Thanks for hosting!
What is your favorite non-fiction?
Thank you for hosting me, Lisa!
Hi Mai - I have so many non-fiction books that I like. I don't think I could pick just one favorite!
I love the nature-based writings of Thoreau, Emerson and eco-spiritualist, Thomas Berry. I enjoy books that explore spirituality especially, Thomas Moore's, Care of the Soul and A Life at Work. I love writings on science and how it merges with spirituality, as in, Morphic Resonance, by Rupert Sheldrake and The Biology of Belief, by Bruce Lipton. I also enjoy books that help people create better lives, like, Jack Canfield's, The Success Principles and, Elizabeth Gilbert's, Big Magic and, Julia Cameron's, The Artist's Way.
And there's more!!
Enjoyed the interview, sounds like a great read, thanks for sharing!
Great post! I really enjoyed reading the interview and the excerpt. This book sounds like a very interesting read. Looking forward to checking out this book!
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