Taking her cue from Henry David Thoreau and Wendell Berry, Susan Hand Shetterly is exploring what it is to live in a Down East coastal town and to pay attention, over time, to what it offers in terms of land, water, wildlife, and neighbors. In her new book of essays, Notes on the Landscape of Home, she celebrates the work of communities to restore and protect environments their people know and love, and takes a look at what is changing and what has been lost. Among her subjects are the reestablishment of the bald eagle population in Maine, the reintroduction of the American turkey, and the turkey vulture’s northward trend. She also writes about shorebird migrations, the Bluefin tuna and the humpback and right whales in the Gulf of Maine, counting alewives along a stream in her town in the spring, seaweed cultivation in a bay, a forest’s rebirth, the island that gave her the imaginative space she needed, and more. She recounts how she and her neighbors kept each other company at a distance during the long months of COVID, and she celebrates coastal culture—its particular, deep history that anchors a person’s sense of place. In this event, Shetterly will discuss and read from the book and answer audience questions.

Susan Hand Shetterly has lived on the coast of Maine for most of her life. She writes about wildlife and wild lands, has worked as a wild bird rehabilitator, and spends time working with others to protect and restore valuable habitat. She has written essays and articles for numerous magazines, including Yankee and Audubon Magazine, and previously wrote a monthly column titled “Room with a View” for Down East magazine. Shetterly is also the author of Settled in the Wild and Seaweed Chronicles: A World at the Water’s Edge.

This event will take place in the library’s Community Room. FMI, email elewis@rocklandmaine.gov.