American marine biologist (1963–2016)
Eva Lucia Saulitis (May 10, 1963 – January 16, 2016) was an American marine biologist and poet, based in Alaska.
Early life and education.
Saulitis was born in the Bronx and raised Silver Creek, New York, the daughter of Latvian immigrants Janis (John) Saulitis and Asja Ivins Saulitis. She studied oboe at Northwestern University, before changing schools and majors to complete a bachelor's degree in environmental science at Syracuse SUNY ESF (Environmental Science and Forestry). She earned a master's degree in marine biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1993, and a second master's degree, in creative writing, in 1999.
Career.
Saulitis studied pods of orcas in Prince William Sound. Saulitis taught creative writing at Kenai Peninsula College, and in the University of Alaska Anchorage's MFA program. She was one of the founders of the Kachemak Bay Writers' Conference, and co-founder of the North Gulf Oceanic Society. She was involved in impact studies and restoration efforts following the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
In 2013, Saulitis received the Alaska Governor's Award for the Arts and Humanities. In 2015, she was awarded the Homer Arts Council's Lifetime Achievement Award.
Personal life and legacy.
Saulitis and her husband, biologist Craig Matkin, had homes in Alaska and in Hawai'i. She died in 2016, aged 52, from breast cancer, at her home in Homer, Alaska. In preparation for her own death, she and her family built her coffin together, woven from branches and grasses found in their surroundings. She wrote, in her final message to her loved ones, "It was a good day to die, because it was such a good life to have lived." A scholarship fund at the University of Alaska Anchorage was named for Saulitis. In 2019, Randon Billings Noble of "The Rumpus" recommended Saulitis's "Leaving Resurrection" in a list titled "What to Read When You’re Haunted".
References.
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