Hardy, Aurora: - Growing up on the banks of the Copper River, Aurora Hardy read voraciously. Without electricity or modern conveniences, while homeschooling, Aurora entertained herself by reading. Aurora also wrote, keeping a journal, making a 'newspaper' and recording the beauty of the land in poetry. She was published several times in Howard Rock's Alaska Native newspaper, The Tundra Times.In 1986, Aurora was the first Native woman to graduate from the University of Montana School of Forestry. Her work demanded technical and scientific report writing, but Aurora always dreamed of writing her own stories. In 2007, she published Terror at Black Rapids, about a terrorist attack on the Alaska Pipeline. As she worked, raised children and became a grandparent, Aurora wrote stories and poems. The City of Kenai chose one of her poems about a dog walking the beach in a contest in 2019.Aurora has survived racism, mission boarding school, 1964 earthquake and tsunami, poverty, and many other challenges facing Native women. Her imagination helped her through many adversities. In dreaming stories and poems, she found strength and courage to hope for a better future. Aurora is dedicated to inspire reading to young Alaskans.