Surprisingly, Dave and Ilyssa Kyu, longtime Glenside residents and editors of the “Campfire Books” anthology series, did not grow up camping. A twist of fate, however, sent them into the wilderness, where they remain today (at least in print). 

The couple met while working at Whole Foods in North Wales. Dave was a cashier studying sculpture at Tyler School of Art and Ilyssa was a bagger and student at Springfield Township High School (she later studied industrial design at the University of the Arts).“We like to joke that I liked what he was passing down the aisle,” Ilyssa said.

While still dating (they have been together for 20 years and married for 13), a planned vacation to Toronto was suddenly derailed by a sanitation workers’ strike. “We had to come up with a new plan at the last minute,” Ilyssa told the Local. “We never had gone camping before, so we were woefully unprepared and had several very cold nights, but yet we absolutely fell in love with camping and spending time outdoors. From there, we found ourselves camping any moment we could.” 

Those experiences lit the spark for a book project, and in 2018, the first “Campfire Stories” volume was published. Ilyssa said “Dave suggested we sell our house, buy a van, hit the road and ‘Live nowhere and everywhere.’ I thought that was a terrible idea, but I loved the idea of traveling … and it just happened to be the centennial celebration year of the National Park Service. So we decided our first collection of stories would be about the National Parks’ first 100 years, and we went for it.”

Combining the beauty of the natural world with the tradition of storytelling, the books are part literary collection and part travel guide. They expose the reader to classic tales, original essays, poems, and natural history by writers including Stanley Kunitz, Mary Oliver, and Henry David Thoreau. Each volume explores the beauty and wonder of nature in national parks and other regions of the United States. Every chapter includes an “About this Story” reflection, offering insight into how the Glenside couple discovered the tale, why they selected it, and some background about its author. 

So far, the series includes five titles — the two national parks collections and three “Tales and Travel Companion” collections — with three more of the latter on the way this fall. They also publish two sets of activity card decks: one featuring story prompts for adults, and another with words and pictures to help children create their own fireside lore.

“Recognizing the impact travelers have on destinations,” Dave said, “especially in the wake of the pandemic, it was important to us that if we were encouraging travel, we also were providing suggestions for ‘How to travel well,’ so you’re leaving a positive, not harmful, impact on the region.”

He and Ilyssa also use local sources wherever possible. He explained, “With room to include even more stories for each region, we needed to get back into the libraries, archives, and bookstores to find stories and identify local writers we wanted to work with. These places often have work from local writers in limited or one-off printings that we’d never find unless we were there, and they’re also often the heartbeat and hub of a community, so we’re able to learn about what’s going on in a region, which ultimately enhances our understanding of the place.”

The couple will appear Saturday, July 19, 1-4 p.m., at booked, 8511 Germantown Ave., to discuss and sign their three just-released collections of “Campfire Stories,” featuring tales from Cape Cod, Chesapeake Bay, and the Adirondacks.

For more information, visit campfirestoriesbook.com or Instagram @campfirestoriesbook. Len Lear can be reached at LenLear@chestnuthilllocal.com.