Blair Braverman
Blair Braverman is a writer, musher, adventurer and innovative storyteller. By the time she was eighteen, she had left her home in California, moved to arctic Norway to learn to drive sled dogs, and worked as a tour guide on a glacier in Alaska. Determined to carve out a life as a “tough girl”—a young woman who confronts danger without apology—she slowly developed the strength and resilience the landscape demanded of her.
Blair is the author of WELCOME TO THE GODDAMN ICE CUBE: Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North, a rich and revelatory memoir about reclaiming her courage in the stark landscapes of the north, and DOGS ON THE TRAIL: A Year in the Life, a delightful photographic journey based on her wildly popular Twitter feed. She is a contributing editor for Outside magazine, and writes for The New York Times, Vogue, This American Life and others. Two new books of nonfiction are forthcoming from Ecco/HarperCollins including
She is the recipient of the Iowa Arts Fellowship, MacDowell Fellowship, Blue Mountain Center Fellowship, and was named an Outdoors 30 Under 30. She received her BA in Environmental Law from Colby College and her MFA in Nonfiction writing from the University of Iowa.
Speaking topics drawn from Blair’s extraordinary journey include resilience; self-discovery; overcoming fear; and nature and extreme landscapes. A critically acclaimed essayist, memoirist and journalist, Blair also speaks about the art of narrative nonfiction.
“As a storyteller and a stylist, Braverman is remarkably skilled, with a keen sense of visceral detail that borders on sublime. Her ability to draw readers into heart-pounding action sequences is what makes the book so courageous and original as a travel narrative and a memoir of self-discovery.” – New York Times Book Review
“A richly insightful work whose bold but delicately delivered honesty has much to teach us. . . . Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube is gorgeous, moving and universally resonant. Most of all, it’s important.” – Huffington Post
Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube “put a feminist spin on the hyper-masculine canon of adventure writing.” – GQ Magazine
Books, Films & Projects
Clips
What Sled Dogs Can Teach Us About Courage | Blair Braverman | TEDxOshkosh
Sunday TODAY meets "the talk of the race" Blair Braverman and her dogs at the Iditarod ceremonial start.
What's it like to run a 100 mile dogsled race? Blair Braverman gives us a glimpse.
News
In this episode of the New York Times podcast,“Sway,” Kara Swisher and Blair Braverman debunk the myth of the alpha dog, explore the benefits of yielding to — rather than trying to own — nature, and discuss why it may be better to be eaten by an animal than hurt by a human.
Blair Braverman weighs in on Occupying Traditionally Male Spaces in GQ’s New Masculinity issue, an exploration of the ways that traditional notions of masculinity are being challenged, overturned, and evolved.
Blair features the women of the 2019 Iditarod in her feature for VOGUE magazine.