Korongo: The Homebound Diaries

by Sara Tucker, Shirly Hook, P.A. Cooley

Korongo is a journal written and illustrated by the people of the White River Valley in Vermont. In its premier issue, Shirly Hook, author of the story collection My Bring Up (Korongo Books; 2019), writes about keeping an Abenaki garden and spending time at a camp that can only be reached by boat. Also included are sketches and poems by the artist Dorothy Calhoun Fago, who kept a journal while living at Menig nursing home in Randolph Center. P.A. Cooley writes about the life of a married gay man who works in a skilled nursing facility, and Emily Howe reports on a day-trip to a quirky and little known state park. Korongo is edited by Sara Tucker, a writer and publisher whose work has been exhibited at the Vermont Folklife Center and the Vermont State House and recognized by the Vermont State Legislature.

126 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2020

About the author

I grew up in Vermont, studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, then switched to publishing and got a job at Cosmo (Helen Gurley Brown used to give me her hand-me-downs). I now divide my time between Vermont and France. I write nonfiction--I seem to be incapable of making stuff up. I come from a big family and am fascinated by family relationships in all their glorious confusion. In my first book, Our House in Arusha, I delved into my French husband's family history and examined my own bumbling relationship with my eleven-year-old stepson. In the sequel, An Irruption of Owls, I reflected on the five years I spent as my mother's caregiver, a time of joy and sorrow.