Lawrence Webster

"Under the North Light" is my first full length book. In my life as a librarian, nonprofit marketing director, and advocacy consultant, I have written lots of bureaucratic reports, a couple of chapters in technical books. As a graduate student in library science and much later in religious studies, I produced countless academic papers and presentations. But working on this book was a joyful labor of love from beginning to end. It was as though Maud and Miska--two unusual, interesting, and creative people-- moved themselves right into my house for a couple of years. When I found myself talking to them out loud and listening for the answers, I knew it was time to wrap up the project, much to the joy of my patient and skillful publishers.

I fell into a lucky childhood, growing up in the artists' colony of Woodstock, NY. My parents were good friends with many of the local artists, including the Petershams. Their granddaughter, Mary, is friend and was a childhood playmate -- we had the run of the house and the mountainside behind, and I always was drawn to the warm and busy studio where Maud and Miska went to work every day.

Despite this fertile ground, I didn't grow up to be a creative artist, or a writer of fiction, -- but I have worked with writers and artists in many different ways, and have always been grateful for any opportunity to bring important work to the attention of a wider audience.

As so many of my generation, I am right now poised at the "what next" stage in life, and am enjoying the prospect of more time to research and write. Right now, I'm living at Pendle Hill, a venerable Quaker retreat center near Philadelphia, where I run a small bookstore and enjoy the benefits of living in community with plenty of encouragement to write.

My next book is just in the planning stages, but I think it will also be about a very fine artist from the mid- 20th Century, also with a Woodstock connection, and also so far not quite appreciated enough.