TWENTY STORIES in TWENTY-ONE YEARS:

Local Author Remembers The History Of North Dakota

Words by ANDREA ARNTSON

Photography by PAUL FLESSLAND PHOTO

Each chapter of Norma Knapp’s “Scoria Roads” starts with a song title—an anthem that sets the tone for the time period throughout the story, as the words paint a vivid picture of Knapp’s childhood. Effortlessly, letters to her sister Evelyn lay the foundation for a nostalgic trip down memory lane. The book is wrought with emotion, love, loss, abuse and the difficulties endured by a family continuously on the move across the rugged North Dakota plains in the late 1960s; hence the subtitle “Twenty Houses in Twenty-One Years.”

“There were as many different reasons [for moving] as there were houses,” Knapp says. “In my mind’s eye, it was like we were always trying to upgrade from outdoor plumbing to indoor plumbing, from one bedroom to two bedrooms and so forth.”

Knapp moved to Dickinson, North Dakota, with her five brothers and her only sister, Evie, who helped Knapp to raise their brothers while their mother worked as a waitress to support the family. She remembers her first published piece being a submission to a magazine on how to keep children busy while shopping, reflecting on her use of pictures that she handed to her siblings with instructions to retrieve that item for her when she would take them to run errands.

“Scoria Roads” came to be because of numerous requests from relatives for Knapp to tell the stories of her childhood and of her sister, to whom she was very close. Requests were made by Evie’s children and grandchildren. “My intention when I wrote the book was to tell the stories of my sister. My book is called a memoir and more. And the reason it’s called ‘more,’” Knapp explains, “is because it’s about the oil industry, and it’s a memoir. It’s also essays and letters to my sister. [The letters to my sister] were the vehicle I used to tell the stories of the oil industry.”

“Scoria Roads” is not her first book, nor will it be her last. Her first published book, “Missing My Best Friend,” is focused on helping children through the grieving process. When it was completed, she was told by many to write more children's books. “I was told, ‘Write one for girls and write one for bullying,’” she says, “and I started to go in that direction. But I felt compelled to write about my sister. I just felt like this book, ‘Scoria Roads,’ had to be written.”

Both books deal very heavily with loss and healing, which she has had great experience learning about with her careers as a registered nurse, crisis counselor and bereavement facilitator.

She attributes her success to the safety nets she had along the way—grandparents, aunts, uncles and teachers, all who played vital roles in her life, inspired her to share her experiences with the world, and encouraged her to pursue writing.

“I always wrote. I always kept a journal or a diary,” Knapp says. “I started taking writing classes for my own pleasure. And reading … I’m such a believer in the fact that you have to do a lot of reading to become a good writer.”

Knapp is a self-published author, though you wouldn’t know it to look at her novels. “I spent a lot of time researching to make sure that “Scoria Roads” looks like it’s not self-published,” she says. “And when you self-publish, you become the publisher. I am Spring Joy Press.”

Knapp has plans for more writing adventures, comparing the then and now of North Dakota, and writing what inspires her for who has inspired her throughout her life. Both books, “Scoria Roads” and “Missing My Best Friend,” can be purchased on Norma’s personal website, normaknapp.com/scoriaroads/