BY KAREN BOSSICK
Chapter One Bookstore is hosting a launch party for Ketchum-based author Kim Frank and her new nonfiction book, “Elephants in the Hourglass: A Journey of Reckoning and Hope Along the Himalaya.”
Chapter One Bookstore’s new owner Conor Quinn will hold the party from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday, March 9. Frank will offer a brief reading from the book and talk about her work and new documentary based on the book at 5 p.m.
There will be refreshments and Frank will sign books.
The book, published by Pegasus Books, is a memoir and adventure-filled tale about Frank’s quest for the truth about endangered Asian elephants and their evolving relationships with humans. Frank was a stay-at-home mom and fiction writer before she became drawn to the plight of the elephants in northeastern India. She set out to the Himalaya intending to write a National Geographic-style story and came face to face with an experience that would change her life.
The story, Frank says, begins in the “Chicken Neck of India” where wild Asian elephants once roamed freely through dense forests and jungles, where local people lived in harmony with nature respecting elephants as gods and where monsoon season was celebrated for the abundance of rainfall necessary for living things to survive.
But things changed as new tea plantations, highways, train tracks and human settlements began blocking elephants’ natural migration patterns. In 2017 an 18-kilometer electric fence was erected on the border to keep elephants out of Nepal, and that resulted in the need for an increased military presence to protect human inhabitants as elephants pooled in villages with the remaining forests no longer able to provide enough food for the demands.
Wild Asian elephants number fewer than 50,000—a 50 percent decline over the last three generations. a hundred elephants die in this country each year due to illegal electric fencing, collisions with trains on the “killer track,” and other obstacles.
There’s hope, though, as tea estate owners have become “Elephant Friendly,” creating safe elephant passages. There are also new laws regarding train speed, alternative fencing and research being done to track elephant movement to decrease conflicts.
“The foundation of this book is that if you want to change something, you must take action. This can range from a small personal step to a significant leap into the unknown. My strongest motivation is sharing stories that have the potential to make a difference. It makes confronting my fears worth the risk. I hope you discover something in these stories that resonates with you,” Frank said.
“Elephants in the Hourglass” inspired Frank to create the documentary “Where the Forest Roars,” which is currently in production and set to premiere in the fall of 2025. Frank has talked about her work on various podcasts and has delivered numerous talks globally, including Kathy Sullivan Explores’ “Children, Writing and Elephants with Kim Frank” and NPR’s “The Blue Dot.”
Chapter One Bookstore has been locally owned since 1970, serving the community for 55 years. It partners with The Community Library, the Ernest Hemingway Seminar, the Sun Valley Writers Conference, the Sun Valley Museum of Art and other local organizations. The store takes pride in supporting local authors and regional writers while also offering bestsellers, books of local interest, outdoor and adventure titles, children’s literature and various other published works.
“Chapter One Bookstore plays a vital role in the fabric of our community,” said Conor Quinn, the bookstore’s new owner. “It’s thrilling to support writers, readers and all those who cherish having a local bookstore.”