Degrees of Separation: A Decade North of 60

by Alison McCreesh

"The tension between free-spirited off-grid living and prosaic adult responsibility runs through Alison McCreesh’s tender and loving ode to the people and landscapes of the Far North." —Joe Sacco,  Paying the Land At age 21, Alison hitchhiked to the Yukon and spent the summer living in a tent. 10 years later, in the deep of winter and seven months pregnant, she returns. Degrees of Separation is about what happened in between.
Over the course of a decade, artist Alison McCreesh lived, worked, and travelled north of the 60th parallel. Through a combination of autobiographical stories, drawings and sketches, Degrees of Separation offers an intimate and understated glimpse of the North as Alison experienced it.  From frigid days spent killing time while stranded in the High Arctic, to the challenges of raising a baby in a small shack with no running water, it is one young woman's personal experience of both passing through and of setting down roots. Tinged with McCreesh's characteristic blend of humour and humanity, Degrees of Separation is about the north and its vastness and its diversity. While the backdrop may seem foreign to many, this collection is also a universal exploration of those transformative years from young-adulthood to motherhood. It's a graphic novel navigating themes of connection and disconnect, between the north and the south, but also between different norths and between our different selves.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Memoir, Nonfiction, Canada, Graphic Novels Comics, Comics

390 pages, Paperback

Published April 9, 2024

About the author

Alison McCreesh is a Canadian fibre artist, cartoonist and illustrator living in Yellowknife.
After graduating from the University of Quebec with a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts in 2009, McCreesh traveled extensively throughout Northern Canada. These travels are often the subject of her illustrations, comics and travelogues.
Alison’s books include the graphic novels Ramshackle: A Yellowknife Story (2015) and Degrees of Separation: a Decade North of 60 (2024).

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

2025 Eisner Nominee, Best Graphic Memoir, Degrees of Separation: A Decade North of 60, by Alison McCreesh (Conundrum). (But Feeding Ghosts by Tessa Hulls, the winner in that category, hard to beat that!)

Let's see, how far north have I been? I have been in Yellowknife in the Yukon and parts of northern Alaska (I'll be going there soon to help 47 make a deal to end the Ukraine Invasion, ha), though never quite to the Arctic Circle. In Ontario I made it as far as James Bay. I was in St. Petersburg, Oslo. My kids will go to Iceland for the Solar Eclipse next year (they have been planning for months). But I am a US midwestern. Backpacker, I like roughing it, but nothing like Quebecois-born Alison McCreesh, who shares with us her art journals and stories of living north of the 6oth parallel, in Yellowknife, and north of the Arctic Circle, but also in Iceland, Greenland, Siberia. So my bonafides are comparatively weak here, but they were enough for me to read this all through and like the feel of it.

This is a huge b0ok where the every day, sort of diary comics feel takes precedence over the politics, until the very end, in appendices. It follows over a decade of her life, doing art, working in stores, having a baby, various trips, talking to people. Okay, it might not have had to be this long for what it accomplishes, but the Eisner crowd is right to have nominated it.

My favorite book of the north is Arctic Dreams (and close to it, Horizon) by Barry Lopez, but there are many I love, including Joe Sacco's Paying the Land, John McPhee's Coming into the Country. Of course y'all know Jack London's To Build a Fire.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

An overly long, rambling, and dull collection of anecdotes from an artist who spent a decade living in the Northwest Territories of Canada above the 60th parallel while visiting other settlements as far north or even beyond the Arctic Circle. I felt adrift as we follow the author without much context or helpful segues from being a thrill-seeking hitchhiker to becoming a mother concerned about the environment and indigenous people. She abruptly jumps between locations, jobs, and relationships, while periodically shoehorning in brief histories or overviews of political, regional, and global issues.

The art is mostly stuck in a boring nine-panel grid, only occasionally interrupted by a few pages of landscape or local attraction portraits -- like a travelogue slideshow -- and, hey, did we really need to see what a coffee urn looks like when it's sitting on a folding table in a gymnasium in Salluit, Nunavik?

Too scattershot for me.


FOR REFERENCE:

Portions of this work originally appeared in Petrozavodsk (Conundrum pocketbook series #25, 2021, ISBN 9781772620665) and in an abridged version in The Northern Gaze: A Comics Anthology (Hecate Press, 2021).

[Kit Charlton · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

An interesting and highly educational graphic memoir about life in Canada’s territories, above the 60th parallel. I especially enjoyed learning about the more itinerant communities of Yellowknife and the unique infrastructure that is created to adapt to the harsh climate. Though I will say that McCreesh’s depiction of the environment was almost always with loving eyes, foregrounding the beauty over the brutal in the landscape.

I enjoy a story that includes interjections of history and contextualizing social issues, though this sometimes felt like the main personal story didn’t have enough to hold onto. Perhaps half of the stories had the right amount of content and structure to really support all the information that came alongside it. Nevertheless, this is a life so incredibly different from that of almost everyone else in the world, which nearly always makes for fascinating reading.

I really liked the vague, sketchy nature of the drawing style during the scenes and how they contrasted with the sharp, clear renditions of photographs. That evoked a truthful sense of memory for me.

[Geneviève Binette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fait prendre conscience de la réalité de la vie au nord du 60e parallèle. Contient une mine d'informations sur les membres des premières nations et les inuits. Revient sur divers faits historiques. Super instructif et agréable à lire.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a collection of mini stories and very brief histories of different regions of the Canadian Territories, following the artist's life over the past decade. Overall, I enjoyed some stories and through-lines, but wish some of the histories or information were more detailed and the book just ended abruptly.

[Madhura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this graphic novel/memoir. had picked this up at the library before I was headed to Nunavut. Learnt so much about the NWT & Nunavut, and the history, and lives of people. Related to some parts, from my short visit to a community up there. reminder of how difficult lives can be for people living in extreme climates and isolated communities and how much worse it can get with climate change.

[Jeanelle d'Eon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having never traveled north of Slave Lake, Alberta I appreciated this visual understanding of Canada’s north.

I normally love diving deep into life, and this book was more like little snippets of the authors life in northern Canada.

[Tomiko Robson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent memoir. I especially appreciate the context pages at the beginning - will use as a graphic essay for ELA 11? 12?

[Liv · Rating 2 out of 5]

Degrees of Separation: A Decade North of 60 details life spent roaming above the Arctic Circle. The setting largely stays in Northern Canada and a bit in Alaska, with stops in Finland, Greenland, and Iceland. It is a work of creative nonfiction, where it is a memoir, but the people and facts have been rearranged to fit a better narrative. That narrative is incredibly loose, though.

I loved reading about the different settings and Indigenous cultures, and sadly about the lasting effects of Residential Schools (the last one closing in 1994) and High Arctic Relocation (which wasn't apologized for until 2010). However, there were so many scenes that were abandoned, dropped in without explanation, or just disjointed, that this read like flipping through someone else's vacation photos without any explanation of what they were. As soon as you may have figured out what you were looking at, the photos were moving on to somewhere else.

The gems felt few and far between, which is saying a lot, as this book is massive. It is almost 400 pages, but the pages are designed with twice the usual content of a similar book, so you in effect have 800 pages of disjointed storytelling. I enjoyed the Notes section at the end more than I did the entire book. I would still be interested in checking out her other work to see if it is more cohesive.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this type of memoir told in graphic novel form and this one was really interesting as it depicted a nomadic life on the margins near and above the arctic circle. I had my first trip to Alaska this summer so I could begin to visualize some of what she presented. I also knew people in my youth who moved off the grid for years and I could understand that romanticism of that. Bringing a baby (or 2!) into such a life just seems downright ballsy and she appeared to carry it off with aplomb!

McCreesh depicts a beloved life in Yellowknife Canada in the Northwest Territories, as well as a year traveling the Artic on artists grants, with stops in Russia, Finland & Sweden. She does offer a mini illustration of global warming towards the end of the book: how it is effecting these small towns (entire communities might be built on permafrost, which is warming up) and the ripple effects for us all.

I loved the art. This story reminded me of that brief time in my life where I thought I could do whatever I wanted by figuring it out as I went.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot while reading this! Mostly in the footnotes, but I liked that the story had a "this is how my experience felt during that time" vibe, and the bulk of the education was saved for the end. I truly felt transported to these different arctic environments: some that moved slowly, to the rhythm of nature, some that came with new stressors and adaptations, and some that were jam packed with love and positive memories. The climate information was a bit general for my taste (someone with a degree in environmental sciences) but very accurate, though sometimes lacking any tangible/accessible call-to-action items for the reader. I didn't mind the length of the book, there were parts that felt a bit random, disjointed, or full of minute details, but that's often how life feels, so I respect it. Overall, an enjoyable read!

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book, which was about Alison McCreesh living in the North for over a decade. She depicts life in Northern neighbourhoods, (like the Yellowknife woodyards) and gets an amazing job travelling all over the north as a court interpreter. (She is fully bilingual and is from Quebec). We can also see her relationships with her friends, and her adventures in different northern communities. There's a lot of Indigenous history in this book, and she did a great job of making notes that can be understand by both Canadians and others.

Some of the communities she goes include NWT, Whitehorse, (Yellowknife, Dawson and the Yukon). I know she travels to Nunavik and I think she spends some time in Iqualuit. I really enjoyed this read.

[Susan Armstrong · Rating 2 out of 5]

On a positive note, there are drawings in this novel that are startlingly beautiful. I gave a low rating as I found the lack of cohesive narrative jarring and confusing. Most times I did not know who the characters were who were being depicted, I could turn a page and be in a completely different story with no bridge. The narrative jumps from being in Canada to Scandavia/Russia with no bridge, from questioning her choice to conceive to having an infant and being once again in a different setting. It was moments sprinkled throughout a decade with an unifying theme of being north of 60 and some analysis of the impact of colonialization and climate change on the north.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This graphic memoir follows artist Alison McCreesh’s time living and travelling in northern Canada.

While I appreciated the insight into northern living and the thoughtful, researched moments woven throughout about Indigenous culture and the realities of remote communities, the storytelling sometimes felt disjointed - I occasionally found myself rereading a section to ensure I hadn't skipped a page when there was a time or location jump (like when all of a sudden there was a baby!). It's more a series of vignettes than a cohesive narrative.

I recommend this to fans of Ducks by Kate Beaton, or anyone curious about northern Canada, off-grid living, or quiet memoirs about finding home in unlikely places.

[Philip Nash · Rating 4 out of 5]

A big book: heavy, full of detail, decent artwork, starts with the author hitchhiking to Alaska, and then spending years in the North. Not just in Alaska, but quite a bit about Yellowknife, Nunavit, Greenland, Finland, and Russia. Good treatment about the link between living in the North and artistic pursuits. The amount of personal detail, and introspection, and history of the first northern peoples, makes this more of a moving memoir and not "just" a graphic novel.

[Maria Forsberg hörnvall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vi får följa Alison som åker norrut i Canada med en kompis för en sommar och som sedan blir kvar. Parallellt med hennes historia får vi en inblick i hur gruvindustrin, myndigheter m fl kört över ursprungsbefolkningen, hur människor bor i vanliga hus medan andra bor i små primitiva skjul. Mot slutet får man även en inblick i hur mycket klimatförändringarna påverkar områdena nära polerna extra mycket och hur viktig permafrosten är för hela klotets överlevnad.

[Jasmine Marianayagam · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars

The synopsis made it sound more interesting than it really was. There was no plot and the “storyline” was quite scattered. No hook to keep reading…I only saw it till the end because I am familiar with the Northern setting and felt some sort of representation.

I echo what the other 2 star reviews have to say.

[Lesley Bergen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s so cool to read a graphic memoir from an author that lives in your Territory. In this case the Northwest Territories. I learned a lot about both Yellowknife and other North of 60° locations.
I was especially intrigued to see Alison’s recount of our wildfires and evacuations that so many of us experienced in 2023. Great book!

[Alina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has taught me so much, and I am so impressed and awed by the author and her life. Honest, and doesn't seek to sugar coat the struggles (both broader community-based ones and personal ones) - I really appreciated the book. The pencils drawings are excellent as well.

[Blackwell Boyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

A treasure to read and to own... I love the evocative drawings, the gentle, self-deprecating humour, and the nail-on-the-head, bell-ringing true descriptions of so many places and experiences that happen to be familiar to me as well.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memoir in large graphic novel format - lovely Canadian landscape drawings

[Ian Coutts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply wonderful. Love the visual style and the author's storytelling ability. I completely recommend it.

[Beth Oehler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful drawings of many places, many familiar and beloved. There is no plot though, I think there isn’t supposed to be? Or I missed it.

[Keith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't stay interested.

[A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful art, thoughtful research, and a window into life in a part of my country that I've never gotten to visit.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this beautiful, contemplative book.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this. I've been to a lot of these places, though never for very long nor living there, and I recognized them instantly.