Vineyard Stories steps out

Independent bookstores, which are my primary customers, have a hard time of it. They’ve always struggled against the large companies like Barnes and Noble. Then Amazon.com came in, leaving both the independents and the chains gasping for air. Now, with the advent of electronic books, my friends at the independent stores are definitely challenged. Vineyard [...]

Cross-pollination

This weekend we had the launch of the book Summer Friends at the Dragonfly Gallery in Oak Bluffs. Everything just seemed to work – the hosts, gallery owners Susan Davy and Don McKillop, were kind; the book buyers turned up; the author, Sarah French, was engaged and interested. And then something magical happened: with the [...]

Honorable and wonderful

  Morning Glory Farm and the Family that Feeds an Island was given an honorable mention in the home category by the Eric Hoffer Book Award to recognize independent writers, authors, and publishers. The award is named after Hoffer, an American social writer and philosopher who won the Presidential Medal of Freedom in February 1983 [...]

An independent spirit

  Eric Hoffer was an American social writer and philosopher who won the Presidential Medal of Freedom in February 1983. He was also a believer in innovation and indendence. “Everywhere we look … we see something new trying to be born,” he wrote. It seems fitting that the book Schooner: Building a Wooden Boat on [...]

A commonwealth win

I’ve been courting the Massachusetts Center for the Book for four years, shot down each year but so sure that one of my books is going to make the list for “must reads” the center picks annually to honor books written by Massachusetts writers or about Massachusetts themes. It’s a big honor. The Massachusetts Center [...]