Derek Neary
Northern News Services

FORT SIMPSON (Aug 07/98) - Prolific writer Lyn Hancock returned to the Deh Cho last week to become reacquainted with the Mackenzie River, which will be the subject of her next book.

While in the area, she visited the Cli Lake Lodge, Nats'enelu and a number of long-time friends.

Over the past year, Hancock has continued to give lectures and interviews about the North to a southern audience as well as display crafts from the territories.

She often wears polar bear pants, walrus earrings, leather-beaded vests and the like to promote Northern culture. She'll soon have a specially-designed dress from Nats'enelu featuring a Mackenzie rose and a Deh Cho doll to add to her collection of display items.

"I'm an ambassador of the North," she said proudly, adding that she's "passing on her contagious enthusiasm" to others.

Hancock first came to Fort Simpson in 1971 via the Mackenzie. She was travelling in a rubber raft, with intentions of traversing the Northwest Passage. She stopped near the village, climbed the banks and met Albert Faile. She became enchanted with the community and moved into a home here in 1987.

The visit proved cathartic for Hancock, a native of Australia, who has experienced a number of personal problems over the past 18 months.

"You find healing from the land and your roots," she said, adding that the land is forever the same and the river always runs on. "I've come back to the things and the people that I can trust... It's a bit of closure."

In addition to the book on the Mackenzie, she is writing one about the Yukon River. Both are part of a series on rivers of North America.

She has also recently finished a feature article for Reader's Digest, to be published in the fall, on the bear attack at Liard hot springs last year. Hancock was actually on the scene at the time.

Her book, "Winging it in the North," was published last year and she said, "I found my independence with this book."

The wealth of fascinating tales and story ideas in the North have kept her pen flowing for close to three decades.

"I've always wanted to be like Chris Columbus and discover a new world," she said. "I want to be there first."