can you believe it?

i measure my life in book festivals. i’ve been part of the Nantucket Book Festival for eight years. tomorrow, i’ll kick off the festival by interviewing Tara Karr Roberts, author of Wild and Distant Seas (Norton, 2024). i met Tara online–on zoom!–in the early days of the pandemic. She was writing her novel and supposed to travel to Nantucket from Idaho. the world was derailed, and then some. Tara pressed on, writing a beautiful debut about four generations of women, all starting out from our sandy soil.

i have been thinking a lot about pressing on. last year, three dear friends died. there are so many things I’d like to tell them. i’ve been writing instead, and telling the rest of you.

as usual, you can hear me over on WCAI the third Tuesday of every month, or anytime you please on their website.

i’ve been writing for Nantucket Today magazine, a great local publication that explores island history, local issues, and people who are working hard to make a go of it here in the middle of the sea.

for the spring issue, I wrote a story about how the past informs how a neighborhood close to the sea prepare for the future.