Smiling dogs

Here's another of Mary Ivory's shots, from the jacket flap of our award-winning children's book.

While preparing my essay for Chicago Public Radio this week I decided to send something about Harper’s early retirement to Bark magazine, too. They liked what I wrote and published When a Seeing Eye Dog Gets Off-Track as a guest post on the Bark blog last Tuesday.

The post I wrote for Bark is similar to what I’ve been writing here, but you might want to link to it anyway just to admire the photograph they published along with it –it’s another photo taken by my friend Mary Ivory. Mary is a licensed clinical professional counselor, social worker, life coach, and from all accounts, a very talented photographer. She took the photograph on the book jacket flap of Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound, and when I phoned her earlier this week to ask if she could take a last-minute photo of Harper and me for the Bark blog, she came in, ahem, a flash.

Having work published in Bark puts Mary and me in some darned good company: the magazine’s impeccable pedigree includes publishing many of today’s most acclaimed authors including Ann Patchett, Augusten Burroughs, Rick Bass, Amy Hempel, and Pulitzer Prize winning poet Mary Oliver. Bark has been honored with an Award of Merit from The Society of Publication Designers, and their photo book DogJoy features the magazine’s popular “Smiling Dogs” submissions. from their web site:

Bark is the magazine of modern dog culture—it speaks to the serious dog enthusiast. Bark is the indispensable guide to life with dogs, showing readers how to live smartly and rewardingly with their canine companions. Founded in 1997, as a newsletter to advocate for off-leash dog parks in Berkeley, California, the magazine quickly grew into a glossy, award-winning publication acclaimed for its timely commentary and rich literary offerings. Today, Bark has a nationwide readership of over 250,000.

In addition to regular guest Bark blog posts,I’ve had a few stories published in the four-color “glossy, award-winning” version of Bark, too. It’s always a thrill to be contacted by their staff — it gives me the opportunity to brag that I write for the same magazine Ann Patchett writes for. And now Mary Ivory can brag, too. Her photography has been published by the same folks who honor photographs of “Smiling Dogs” in every issue.