Kira Salak was born on September 4,1971 and is an American writer, adventurer, and journalist known for her travels in Mali and Papua New Guinea.
12 Facts About Kira Salak
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Kira Salak has written two books of nonfiction and a book of fiction based on her travels and is a contributing editor at National Geographic magazine.
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Kira Salak was born on September 4,1971, in Westmont, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois.
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Kira Salak's mother was a waitress and her father repaired mainframe computers.
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When Salak was 13, her parents sent her to Wayland Academy, a boarding school in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, where she participated in cross-country activities and set a state level track record when she was 14.
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At the age of 24, Kira Salak took a year off from graduate school to backpack around Papua New Guinea, the Pacific Island nation, and became the first American woman to cross the country.
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Kira Salak took a year break from writing for magazines following the passing of her brother Marc in 2005 to finish writing The White Mary, her debut novel.
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Kira Salak now writes regularly for National Geographic Adventure, National Geographic, and other magazines about her travels to places which include Iran, Rwanda, Libya, Burma, Borneo, Uganda and Peru.
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Kira Salak stayed in the Congolese town of Bunia, which was taken over by child soldiers, an experience she described as "an endless stream of the worst, most inconceivable acts of inhumanity".
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Kira Salak received a PEN literary award for her article about that experience.
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Kira Salak's fiction was selected for Best New American Voices.
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Kira Salak has appeared on the CBC's prime-time news show, The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos.