GennaRose Nethercott is the author of a novel, Thistlefoot, and a short story collection, Fifty Beasts to Break YourHeart — winner of the Vermont Book Award for Fiction. Her first book, The Lumberjack’s Dove, was selected by Louise Glück as winner of the National Poetry Series — and as a folklorist, she serves as the head writer behind the podcast Lore.
Scudder Parker’s family moved to a small dairy farm in North Danville, Vermont when he was nine years old. They all worked hard on their hilly land, and were gradually welcomed by the surrounding community— first as outsiders, then dairy farmers, then Christmas tree growers. When their farmhouse burned, (and neighbors surrounded them with support and companionship) his father was already transitioning to Protestant ministry. The family moved to Hardwick, Vermont, where his father became pastor of the United Church, and Scudder suddenly became a “preacher’s kid”.
Jasper Craven is a Northeast Kingdom native and former VTDigger staff writer who covers men and the military for outlets including Harper’s, POLITICO Magazine, NY Mag, Wired, GQ, and The New York Times. His first foray on this beat came in 2018 via a seven-part investigative series for VTDigger into sexual misconduct and an ultra-masculine “Top Gun” culture within the Vermont National Guard. That work prompted reforms, firings, and the resignation of the Adjutant General.
Sara Grey is a fine American singer of traditional song and ballads, banjo player and song collector. She’s immersed in the song traditions of both sides of the Atlantic and also loves teaching the banjo as a versatile instrument for accompanying song. She has performed throughout the UK, Europe, North America and Australia for the past 65 years.
Ellery Foutch is an Associate Professor in the American Studies Program at Middlebury College, where she teaches classes on the art and material culture of the United States, as well as critical museum studies. Her new book, A Perfectionist Impulse: The Art of Stopping Time in the Nineteenth Century (University of Minnesota Press, July 2026) explores period fascinations with perfection and its preservation across art, natural history, popular culture, and museum exhibition practices.
Coco Moseley is the Executive Director of the Henry Sheldon Museum in Middlebury. Since beginning this role in 2023, she has worked alongside the staff, board and community to reimagine the Sheldon Museum as a place where stories, history and art can inspire visitors today.
Kerstin Lange has lived in Vermont since 1995, when she worked as a caretaker along the Long Trail. Originally from northern Germany and fluent in German, she holds an M.A. in Anthropology and an M.S. from the University of Vermont. She has taught in both fields, worked with biological anthropologists among nomads in northwest Kenya, and consulted on natural history-based land management.
Jen Berger (she/her) is a socially engaged artist and educator based in Vermont. Her interdisciplinary practice—spanning printmaking, performance, installation, and mixed media—explores the intersections of art, care, and justice, with a focus on collective grief, participation, and belonging. Grounded in decades of social movement experience, her artwork connects research, making, and community engagement into public and shared spaces.
Isaac Evans-Frantz is the executive director of Action Corps and the clerk of the Brattleboro Selectboard. He was raised in a low-income rural Vermont family and is a leader of Vermont’s LGBTQI+ community.
Michael Sjostedt is a collage artist, workshop facilitator, and creative entrepreneur who has been creating—in both artistic and editorial sectors—for more than 25 years.
Our seasonal “Words in the Woods” program allows Vermonters and visitors to enjoy our state’s natural beauty while listening to and reading literature in the outdoors.
Humanities Camps are filled with reading and writing projects, field trips, and outdoor activities.
We won a 2020 Schwartz Prize for best public humanities programming in the U.S. for Vermont Reads 2019: “March: Book One.”
We supported the Chandler Center for the Arts’ Global Connections Youth Outreach program, which highlights artists from around the world.
Our free public events help bring the power of the humanities to communities across Vermont.
