Skimmilk Farm, an abandoned colonial-era dairy farm in Southern New Hampshire became the summer home of the late Boston/New Hampshire poet Jean Pedrick Kefferstan (1923-2006) and her family in the 1950s. In time it also became a Monday morning mecca for poets and writers for over 30 summers. Mondays at Skimmilk: 30 Years of Writers at Work is the new half-hour documentary that tells the story of the Skimmilk Farm Writers Workshop, and the circle of support and friendship it has provided for New England writers since 1974
These informal workshops, have helped shaped the writing careers of such New Hampshire and New England writing voices as:
- Marie Harris – New Hampshire Poet Laureate 1999-2004
- Elizabeth Knies – critic, teacher, and published poet
- Esther Buffler – late Poet Laureate of Portsmouth New Hampshire
- Charles Pratt – apple grower, teacher, and poet
- Mimi White – Portsmouth Poet Laureate 2005-2007
- John Perrault – Portsmouth Poet Laureate 2003-2005
- Kathy Solomon, Kathi Hennessy, Ellen Hersh, and others
Nancy Mairs, Jean Pedrick’s niece, also got her start as a writer during summers spent at the farm. She has gone on to become one of America’s best known essayists.
Ken Browne exquisitely captures the joy and the lasting bonds that emerge when people who love writing come together to share their work and help each other grow. Not only is the documentary a tribute to Jean Pedrick, the founder of this long-lived workshop, but it is a tribute to the writing process itself and to deep friendships that form when people come together to share their work and support each other “Mondays at Skimmilk” is a beautiful documentary, a joy to watch. – Patricia Fargnoli, New Hampshire Poet Laureate
“a fitting tribute.” – The Boston Globe
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