Updates
Conversation with the 7am Novelist ›
I had a wonderful time chatting with Michelle Hoover about "Port Anna," art history, and the importance of museums. Thirty years ago, I began writing a dissertation focused on the work of the 19th-century French artist Gustave Moreau. Although the paintings are fascinating, portals into another world, he...
Reading with... ›
I had a blast answering the Shelf Awareness questions. Some of them took me back to my childhood. In elementary school, my end-of-year award was "Biggest Bookworm." After three years in a row, this grew a little old—but it was nevertheless quite true. Nothing can make you...
Newscenter Maine ›
I had a wonderful time chatting with Samantha York about Port Anna last week....
Woods Island Lighthouse ›
I have had the loveliest two weeks. Port Anna launched on July 1st at the Blue Hill Library. The sight of that wonderful room filled with so many people I love brought tears to my eyes. The conversation with Peter Behrens, bestselling author of “The Law of Dreams,” “The O’...
Podcast interview with GP Gottlieb ›
It was an absolute pleasure to talk with GP Gottlieb about "Port Anna." She asked the most interesting questions! I could have spent far longer talking to her. Port AnnaPort Anna tells the story of a quiet town on the Maine coast that has attracted the attention of...
Writing like an art historian ›
This piece for LitHub was a blast to write. I had the best time revisiting my father's family's cache of 'heirlooms,' including a bag of snipped Izod alligators. 😂 Enjoy. Libby Buck on Writing Like an Art HistorianThis first appeared in Lit Hub’s Craft...
"For Love of Words." ›
I recently had the opportunity to answer Lidija Hilje's questions for her lovely Substack entitled "For Love of Words." The result is reprinted here. And, for those of you looking for another great summer read, I highly recommend her beautiful, poignant novel, "Slanting Towards the...
When I began writing ›
When I began writing “Port Anna” in the summer of 2020, I wasn’t sure when—or if—I would get back to Maine. There was so much fear surrounding any interaction with strangers that the distance between North Carolina and Maine seemed too vast and too fraught to travel....
In the summer of 1971 ›
In the summer of 1971, my parents bought a small cottage in Maine. Built by two Bryn Mawr professors, the simple shingled structure had been designed as a summer residence, a retreat where they could entertain friends and family. Sometimes, to make ends meet, they took in boarders, others who,...
