About the Author

Edward Stanton's Wide as the Wind is based on ten years of travel and research on Easter Island, whose name he has changed in his novel in order to extend its imaginative reach to all of Polynesia. Born in Colorado and raised in California, he resides in Kentucky after having lived in Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Spain. Stanton is the author of eleven books, some of which have been translated and published in Spanish, Arabic and Chinese. Road of Stars to Santiago, the story of his 500-mile walk on the ancient pilgrimage route to Compostela, was called one of the two best books on the subject by The New York Times. Pulitzer Prize-winning writer James Michener said, "Edward Stanton recounts his adventures with stylish conviction." Stanton has also published fiction, poems, translations and essays in magazines, journals and newspapers in countries throughout the world. He has been a professor of literature at universities in the U.S., Europe and South America. The Fulbright Commission and the National Endowment for the Humanities have awarded him grants for travel, research and writing. His students and colleagues recently published a volume of essays in his honor. At present he is completing a travel memoir titled VIDA: A Life.

Reviews

Wide as the Wind has won the 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Award for young adult fiction (the largest not-for-profit book awards program in North America) as well as the 2017 Silver Moonbeam Children's Book Award for Young Adult Fiction - Historical/Cultural."Wide as the Wind transports us to an island world both outside time and urgently relevant to us in the 21st century. At the center of the story stands fifteen-year-old Miru, an extraordinary young man who is called upon to forsake passion, family, and security in a quest to restore his island so it might sustain his people again. This novel reminds us of what is important and what we might be called upon to set aside in order to make a world where we and our descendants can live and thrive." --Leatha Kendrick, author, Almanac of the Invisible "In the midst of a forbidden love, young Miru sails across dangerous Polynesian seas to find new seeds and trees for his island that has been ravaged by war. Wide as the Wind is a lyrically crafted novel of love and adventure as well as a cautionary tale for the survival of the earth and our human species. It now forms part of what has been called 'the environmental imagination.'" --Juan Carlos Galeano, poet and environmentalist "Wide as the Wind speaks to a fundamental truth: our need to protect the planet's environment." --John Flenley and Paul Bahn, authors of The Enigmas of Easter Island "Wide as the Wind takes place many years ago, yet it can speak to readers of all ages and backgrounds in a timeless way about the result of neglecting Earth's natural environment. . . . Wide as the Wind is vividly tragic and dramatically rich. It's a historical tale without feeling historical. Featuring themes of adventure, war, and a comparable Romeo and Juliet type romance, this novel is perfect for readers weary of history and anthropology but zealous for adventure and drama." --Gwendolyn, LitPick Reviews