Writing Down the River: Into the Heart of the Grand Canyon

Sharman Apt Russell, author of When the Land Was Young: Reflections on American Archaeology, describes her initial peek: "My heart starts beating fast when I first see the Grand Canyon, looking down from the South Rim, the vertigo of too much space. My bones feel hollow, like a bird's bones." Annick Smith, editor of The Last Best Place: A Montana Anthology, writes about the roar of the rapids: "Then comes the fifth wave. We climb up and up, stroking hard, but we do not cut through. The wave grows. It's a demon curling above us. Its foaming dragon breath is distinct as a Japanese painting, alive. Now I am stroking air." Judith Freeman, author of A Desert of Pure Feeling, writes of the lingering aftereffects: "For many nights after I left the river I awoke in darkness with the feeling I was still in the canyon. I sat up suddenly in strange beds, in desert motels and distant cities, certain that I was still sleeping on a rock ledge or a spit of sand."

Ryan's photographs of rock, water, and sky round out this evocative portrait of a place unlike any in the world. Taken as a whole, Writing Down the River is a collection of personal reflections as well as a tribute to the unifying power of landscape.

Book Description
Over the course of one summer, fifteen of today's best women writers descended into the heart of the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River. It was the chance of a lifetime-to do something most had never done before, to have life-changing, even dangerous experiences and share them in this trailblazing book.

Sybil Downing, award winning author of Ladies of the Goldfield Stock Exchange


First-ever WILLA Literary Award winner for Memoirs   April 17, 2000
 2 out of 3 found this review helpful

Writing Down the River grabs your heart and broadens your understanding of the power of the western landscape. The photographs are amazing in themselves; the essays stunning.

Sybil Downing, award winning author of Ladies of the Goldfield Stock Exchange


An incomparable experience   August 10, 1999
 2 out of 5 found this review helpful

I haven't received my copy yet but I can certainly review the experience. I saw Kathleen Jo Ryan on PBS on Sunday morning and as each photograph flashed up on the screen I just gasped because I too made this journey last summer and each photo brought back to me the precious days on that journey of a lifetime, recognizing each cave, slot canyon, falls and utter and absolute peace that I found in that place. Words just can't do it. I could go on for hours about it (and often do) The only words that I can find that come close os to say simply that it touched my soul. No one who makes this journey can ever be the same again. If you do nothing else in your life -make this trip. See Ms Ryan's book for an introduction.

I plan to go again next summer. I look forward to my copy of this book of memories to keep me warm until I can be back on the river again.