Lisa Maloney is the author of three guidebooks: Day Hiking Southcentral Alaska, 50 Hikes Around Anchorage, and Moon Alaska. She will describe how the two great passions of her life—hiking and Irish dance—enabled her to emerge from a painfully shy person and taught her to embrace the vulnerable place where true communication happens.

A resident of Alaska for more than 25 years, Lisa is a former outdoors columnist for The Anchorage Press, has covered a nationwide hiking and backpacking beat for a travel website, and served as senior editor at Alaska magazine. She contributes outdoors and lifestyle articles to several publications.