Jan (Petri) Harper-Haines was born in Sitka, Alaska, of Athabascan, Irish, Russian and Dutch descent. In 1990, she began gathering oral histories about her mother and grandmother's lives on the Yuk...view moreJan (Petri) Harper-Haines was born in Sitka, Alaska, of Athabascan, Irish, Russian and Dutch descent. In 1990, she began gathering oral histories about her mother and grandmother's lives on the Yukon River. The family memoir grew out of these early stories. Jan earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where in 1935 her mother, Flora Jane Harper, was the University's first Alaska Native woman to graduate.
The author’s short stories have appeared in magazines and literary publications.
Jan is a former secondary education teacher and has also had a twenty-year career in advertising and marketing in Honolulu and San Francisco. She lives in Marin County, California, with her husband, Larry, an architect. For more information visit www.harperhaines.comview less