Keema Waterfield Waterfield

Keema Waterfield is the author of Inside Passage, a nomadic childhood memoir set along the wild coast of Southeast Alaska. Waterfield has written for The New York Times, WIRED, Brevity, Scary Mommy, INSIDER, and others. She lives in Missoula, Montana, where she moonlights as a stand-up comic when she’s not wrangling her husband and two children, a bunch of extra instruments she doesn’t know how to play, and a revolving cast of rescue animals. She lives and writes on Séliš and Qlispé land. Find her on Twitter and Instagram @keemasaurusrex.

https://keemawaterfield.com
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Award Category
Book Award 2023
Book Award Sub-Category
2023 Best True Story
This submission is private and only visible to judges.

Comments

Stuart Wakefield Thu, 31/08/2023 - 15:15

I thought the theme was resilience. The part that resonated with me the most was the relationship with the mother. The passage painted a vivid picture of the bond between the two and the intense emotions for the mother, which I found very moving. The details of the naming ceremony and the musings on how different her life could have been also created a powerful and emotional connection with me.

Jennifer Bisbing Sat, 02/09/2023 - 22:52

There are so many great lines in this memoir. "No one can recall the exact day I emerged" nearly wraps up the saga before we hear what happens. Brilliant. It kept me wanting more. I kept waiting for Jack Kerouac to hit the scene. But you wrote in the drunk dudes "interjecting something totally ridiculous and inappropriate during a magical moment," so flawlessly that I felt like I was in the moment with your mom's unconventional "family." It builds nicely, with the past and present tense. Not an easy task to pull off. Well done.

Pramudith Rupasinghe Wed, 13/09/2023 - 08:32

The characters are complex and well-developed, I felt as if I was reading fiction; which is good. Above all, the intrigue is maintained throughout.

Nadine Matheson Sat, 23/09/2023 - 14:12

I really enjoyed the unravelling of the relationships of the characters which appears to be quite complex and not what they seem. This was well written with a great sense of place and tone.

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