The Work of Edie Clark

Dear Readers,
I’m delighted to tell you that the new book, States of Grace: Encounters with Real Yankees, is now available. A year or so ago, by request, I set about to put together another anthology of essays, such as The View from Mary’s Farm, but as I began to sort through my archives, I kept coming upon profiles I had written about interesting people, people whose lives had in some way or another inspired me in unusual ways. As I sat in my office, I kept returning to these pieces, drawn once again into these interesting lives. Few of these people were the stuff of headline news and yet their passions, large and small, captivated me – they captured me at the time I wrote these pieces and, in the acceleration of time, caught me in their web once again. I wondered what had happened to these people or their projects. What came of these musings is States of Grace, an anthology of these stories, each of them followed up with an update, the end of the story, if you will. In sum, the updates amazed me in that, in many cases, the follow-up might have found the garden or farm in question lying underneath a Walmart or the person in question fallen from grace. This was never the case and quite to the contrary. The book is 320 pages, paperback, and it features the stories of 28 fascinating individuals, some of whom have passed away but their legacies live on.

I call this book States of Grace because, in putting the book together, I realized that each of these people was living in a state of grace, pursuing their passions, whether as small as picking wild mushrooms or as large as saving the habitat of turtles or walking across the country at the age of ninety to encourage campaign finance reform. The people in this book have brought me a great deal of pleasure and inspiration and I feel sure they will provide this for you as well.

The books experienced a delay at the printer but are now ready. To those of you who have already ordered the book through the mail, I am so grateful for your patience. We are now able to accept orders online as well. If you would like to place an order now, please do so from this site, click on the link to the left of this message or click on the subject "My Books" (above) and you will find another order link there. If you prefer the good old US mail, send a check, made out to me, for $23.95 ($19.95 + $4 shipping, add $3 additional postage for each additional book ordered) to Benjamin Mason Books, PO Box 112, Dublin NH 03444. In either case, allow a couple of weeks for delivery.

Currently, we do have a backlog and will be filling these orders as fast as we can. Soon, the pace will return to normal and no further delays are expected. Your order is very important to us. Thank you for your interest and for your patience!
Edie
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More about what you will find on this site:

On this site you can find a sampling of articles I have written, an archive of the Mary's Farm essays that I write for Yankee Magazine and a selection of my books for sale, which you can order with the click of a link. You can also see a listing of talks I'll be giving over the next few months, an up-to-date bio, news of upcoming workshops, a bibliography of all the articles I've written since 1978, and a selection of photographs I've taken from time to time on the farm.

I've also been blogging recently about a trip to Iceland I made in June. Click on the Blog section, it's an ongoing series at this point.

I hope you enjoy what you find here. Do let me hear from you if you have any suggestions, thoughts or complaints. Thank you so much for visiting. Over the years I’ve come to realize that what matters more than anything, more than the publishers, more than the editors, more than the checks they pay me, what matters most are my readers.

I frequently give talks and workshops. The topics of my talks range from readings from my books, a talk about what it's like writing from my home, a prepared talk about New Engand food/​Saturday Beans, and a prepared talk called "New England: Myth or Reality," which takes on the nature of this place called New England. Is it still the place that is so firmly lodged in our subconsciousness, a place conjured with the help of Wallace Nutting, Norman Rockwell, Robert Frost and Yankee Magazine? Please click on "Appearances," above, for an updated calendar. Contact me if you would like to schedule a talk.

For the past nineteen years, I have produced a monthly column for Yankee magazine. The column is now known as Mary’s Farm, though at one time it was titled The Garden at Chesham Depot. I’ve posted a sampling of this column in the "Mary's Farm" section of this site. As well, there is an opportunity to subscribe to Mary's Farm as an e-mail newsletter, at no charge. Click on "Mary's Farm" above.

At the present time, I am acting as my own agent. I would be interested in syndication of a new column, perhaps of a slightly different nature. In short, I’m eager for new work and ready to take on any challenge laid before me. I am interested in writing assignments for books and magazines as well as any editorial work, all of which I can handle capably and with speed.