Talk of the Towns 2/10/21: A Valentine to Ruth Moore and her writing

Producer/Host: Ron Beard

Who was Ruth Moore?
-Upbringing and family life on Gotts Island
-Her work, including with Reader’s Digest
-Her novels
-Later life in Bass Harbor
-What contributions did Ruth Moore make to American literature… why does her writing resonate?

Attending to Ruth Moore’s legacy and body of work
-Gary Lawless on his role at Blackberry Books, noting Sandy Phippen’s role as editor of High Clouds Soaring, Storms Driving Low (the letters of Ruth Moore)
-Gordon Bok’s role in republishing Cold as a Dog and the Wind Northeast
-Dean Lunt’s plans to republish Ruth’s novels at Islandport Press

Guests:
Dennis Damon, former State Senator, former board chair, Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries
Muriel Davisson, niece of Ruth Moore, President of Tremont Historical Society
Gary Lawless, poet, Gary Lawless is a poet, co-owner of Gulf of Maine Books in Brunswick and owner of the publishing company Blackberry Books in Nobleboro.
Dean Lunt, born on Frenchboro, owner of Islandport Press, based in Yarmouth
Emily Trask-Eaton, niece of Ruth Moore and executrix of her literary estate, doctor of family medicine in Norridgewalk

About the host:
Ron Beard is producer and host of Talk of the Towns, which first aired on WERU in 1993 as part of his community building work as an Extension professor with University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant. He took all the journalism courses he could fit in while an undergraduate student in wildlife management and served as an intern with Maine Public Television nightly newscast in the early 1970s. Ron is an adjunct faculty member at College of the Atlantic, teaching courses on community development. Ron served on the Bar Harbor Town Council for six years and is currently board chair for the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, where he has lived since 1975. Look for him on the Allagash River in June, and whenever he can get away, in the highlands of Scotland where he was fortunate to spend two sabbaticals.