Blair Braverman

Blair Braverman is a bestselling author, adventurer, and long-distance dogsledder who has crossed thousands of miles of frozen wilderness by dog team. Her new podcast is What To Carry, What To Burn

What is your life like? I imagine you adventuring all over the place all the time, always outside, traveling all the time, always in extreme weather…is that it? Or is your life more normal than that?
It really depends! I’ve been so lucky with my life and career; I think of it as a balance between living stories and telling them. Sometimes I’m deep in the wilderness for months at a time, or crossing hundreds of miles alone by dog team. Other times, I’m more settled—that’s generally when I’m writing my books. Right now I have two-year-old twins, so my everyday life is a lot more stable and routine—which is why this is the perfect time for me to make this podcast.

Tell us about What to Carry, What to Burn in 10 words or less.
True stories about surviving the impossible, with lots of heart.

OK now you have more words!
I’ve always been obsessed with survival stories—not just survival but the way we talk about it, whether it’s in books and movies, survival reality shows, etc. 

Stories of being trapped in the wilderness are often presented in terms of “toughness” (self-amputation! eating grubs!). Of course that’s part of the experience, but the real stories are much more complicated; they’re often more about love and extreme creativity than they are about hardcore endurance. 

That means, of course, that they’re also much more human and relatable than people realize, especially if they don’t think of themselves as outdoorsy. What to Carry, What to Burn is about telling survival stories through that deeply human lens.

You will like What to Carry, What to Burn if you like ________. (Can be anything!)
…if you like sitting by the window on the rainy day.

I’ve loved hearing you on You’re Wrong About, your stories about survival always end up being about how people find beauty and joy even when, or especially when, they think they might die or find themselves in what seems like a hopeless situation. When other people talk about the Dyatlov Pass Incident, it’s usually a really sensationalized and gruesome retelling. That’s not your thing. Is it hard to find beauty in terrible stories or is it always there?
The more terrible an experience, the more its moments of beauty are cast into relief, and the more people have to cling to them. People in survival situations are also often desperate to make that beauty, whether that means taking in a wild animal as a pet, or creating art that they think no one will ever see. When I tell these stories, I want to be sure to capture those moments, too, rather than just the sensational horrors. Not to be too corny, but I think that’s survival’s greatest lesson for the rest of us, too. 

What do you like about audio?
I love the intimacy! I think of this podcast as a chance to sit around a campfire with listeners, metaphorically. The kind of campfire stories that go late into the night, until only the coals are glowing.

Thanks, Blair!