On Thursday, March 15th, Whitehorse's Beringia Interpretive Centre played host to a celebration of the launch of the book Polaris: A Celebration of Polar Science. This science fiction anthology causes the speculation and imagination of science fiction to explore polar science itself. Where might it take us? What might certain discoveries mean? And at what cost do we take the frozen poles for granted? The IPY Youth Steering Committee worked with editor Julie E. Czerneda to arrange for an international writing contest open to students from around the world. The winning story was published in the Polaris.

The book has a strong Yukon connection. Yukoners Amber Church and Tyler Kuhn of the International IPY Youth Steering Committee wrote a special introduction to the book while local authors Marcelle Dube and Claire Eamer contributed short stories to the anthology.

For the evenings festivities we were fortunate to have Tyler, Claire and Marcelle in attendance. Tyler talked about the book and the Youth Steering Committee before captivated us with slides from his recent trip to the Antarctic on a Students on Ice expedition. Marcelle and Claire gave enticing readings from their short stories before the crowd retired for appetizers and conversation. Copies of the book were available for purchase and signing and a good time was had by all.

Information on the book as well as Claire and Marcelle's contributions is available on the IPY blog.