Yellowknife (Apr 28/06) - Writing is serious business for Laurie Sarkadi, and it has paid off.

The former Edmonton Journal writer who now works for CBC North in Yellowknife will have an essay in "Dropped Threads 3," an anthology of female writers to be released today.

Yellowknife author, journalist and musician Laurie Sarkadi will be part of Dropped Threads 3, an anthology of female writers. - photo courtesy of Francois Rossouw

The book includes writing from Margaret Atwood, Chantal Kreviazuk and Silken Laumann, among a throng of others, both known and unknown.

"It's a thrill for sure," said Sarkadi about being in the book. "There are a lot of amazing women in there."

Sarkadi said she will present her contribution, an essay titled "The Bear Within," at the Yellowknife Library tonight.

"(In the essay) I take my own personal experience and interject the biological and physiological aspects of black bears," she said. "I go back and forth between their world and my own."

Other than that overview, Sarkadi was not quick with details about the essay, preferring people read or hear it for themselves. However, she did say she was inspired to write it by the sights and sounds around her home on the Ingraham Trail.

"I feel like I have a deep and heartfelt connection with nature," she said. "I wanted to tell a story that would make people think about how we are really no better or worse than anything in nature."

A part of Ecology North's Earth Week events, Sarkadi said she would read her essay in its entirety at the book release and discuss the writing process.

She will also be performing a song with the Earth Friendlies, a band of friends and family members assembled for the event.

"Then we're going to sit around, talk and, well, whatever else you do at a book launch," she said with a chuckle.

Sarkadi's presentation, to be held in the Yellowknife Library Meeting Rooms, runs from 7-9 p.m.