Doug Whynott and Eileen Charbonneau set up shop at Rockingham Roasters, during the recent book crawl in downtown Bellows Falls. Photo provided
BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. – In today’s day and age of the internet and cell phones, sometimes it is just good for the soul to sit in your favorite comfortable spot and settle in with a good book. Because of this electronics overload on society, one may have a misconception that books are a dying breed, and no longer a relevant form of media, but the fact is that an estimated 2.2 million books are published around the world each year. This means there is no excuse for anyone to say that they can’t find a good book that interests them; if a subject exists, there is probably a book written about it.
Bellows Falls recently hosted a its first annual Bellows Falls Downtown Book Crawl, where readers and scribes alike brought their books, bookmarks, and bookbags to the various cafes and bars on The Square to hang out and visit with other readers and authors.
Special coffee and cocktail drinks were available at the various locations, while patrons enjoyed read-ins, a writing workshop and bookmaking class, book signings and author events, open studios, and several literary-inspired store-window displays.
With yours truly also an interested local author, here’s a peek at a couple authors in the area who are writing to keep the art of being an author alive and well. Rockingham Roasters, on The Square, hosted a coffee and book talk featuring local authors Eileen Charbonneau and Doug Whynott.
Charbonneau started out as a freelance writer contributing to newspapers and magazines for a decade, before becoming an author. “I was writing a short story about the history of a new place we were living, and it got out of hand and turned into a novel,” Charbonneau said in a recent interview. “I’ve now published 20 books; 19 are novels, and one is about my writing process, called ‘Elements of a Novel.’ I’ve published novels for young people, including a family trilogy, a mystery series, and one set in 1692 Massachusetts and Newfoundland, Canada.
“For adults, I’ve written historical novels set in the Civil War, the early 20th century conservation movement in California, one along the 1848 Oregon Trail, and one during World War II. Right now, I’m working on publicity for the launch of the third in my series set in World Wat II. All my books are available at the Rockingham Free Public Library, Village Square Books, and online.”
Whynott is one of those writers who always seemed to have oddball jobs along the way, including a dolphin trainer and fish curator, a bee inspector, a piano tuner, a blues pianist, and a literary college professor. Along with writing novels, Whynott’s writing has appeared in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Reader’s Digest, Discover, the Smithsonian, and others.
His novel subjects have ranged from maple sugar production, to commercial beekeeping, commercial tuna fishermen, designing and building boats, and a rural veterinarian clinic.
“The nonfiction books I write allow me to follow the lives of people I admire, and inhabit their professional and even personal lives for a while; that of beekeepers, fishermen, boatbuilders, veterinarians, and maple syrup producers. For me, each book forms a kind of adventure narrative.
“At present, I am writing about my time spent taking blues piano lessons in Harlem from a man known as the king of boogie-woogie, Sammy Price, who also became a good friend. I am self-publishing the book online on a multimedia platform, Substack, that allows me to use audio clips from our lessons and video from his performances, along with sections of writing.”
“I enjoyed being a part of the book crawl and showing some of my books to the community. The best moment for me was when a young woman bought the book I wrote about boatbuilders as a gift for her father, who builds small craft in Marlboro. I enjoyed showing her the drawing of the plans for a special boat (inside cover) created by Joel White, a revered boatbuilder in Maine and the son of the famous children’s book writer E. B. White.”
Other local authors to seek out include romance novelist Marian Griffin, best-selling mystery writer Archer Mayor, area historian Anne Collins, and myself, Joe Milliken, who published a biography about Rock & Roll Hall of Fame musician Benjamin Orr, of the rock band The Cars, and is currently working on a biography about Rock & Roll Hall of Fame musician and guitarist of Aerosmith Joe Perry.