about

Our Writers

OUR WRITERS

Jim Block

Jim Block taught English at Northfield Mount Hermon, a boarding school in Western Mass. He coached cross-country, and advised the newspaper and the debate society there. He taught at Marlborough College, Wilts., England and Robert College, Istanbul, Turkey. He and his wife retired to Chestertown, Md. in 2014.

John Christie

John Christie was for many years a senior partner in a large Washington, D.C. law firm. He specialized in anti-trust litigation and developed a keen interest in the U.S. Supreme Court about which he lectures and writes.

Muriel Cole

Muriel Cole received training in gerontology from the University of Maryland and pursued her professional interest as Chair of Kent County's Commission on Aging and former member of the Maryland State Commission on Aging.

Al Hammond

Al Hammond is an experienced science journalist, a former editor-in-chief of several national publications, who has also worked in healthcare in the U.S. and other countries.

Peter Heck

Peter Heck is a Chestertown-based writer and editor, who spent 10 years at the Kent County News and three more with the Chestertown Spy. He is the author of 10 novels and co-author of four plays, a book reviewer for Asimov’s and Kirkus Reviews, and an incorrigible guitarist.

Bill Herb

Bill Herb was a U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist for 34 years in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Minnesota. He currently lives on Fairlee Creek in Kent County.

Jane Jewell

Jane Jewell is a writer, editor, photographer, and teacher. She has worked in news, publishing, and as the director of a national writer's group. She lives in Chestertown with her husband Peter Heck, a ginger cat named Riley, and a lot of books.

Sherwin Markman

Sherwin Markman, a graduate of the Yale Law School, lives in Rock Hall, Maryland. He served as an assistant to President Lyndon Johnson, after which he was a trial lawyer in Washington, D.C. He has published several books, including one dealing with the Electoral College. He has also taught and lectured about the American political system.

Jan Plotczyk

Jan Plotczyk spent 25 years as a statistician with the federal government. She retired to Rock Hall.

Larry Samuels

Larry Samuels resides in Chestertown, and is involved in many community activities with organizations that do good works.

George Shivers

A native of Wicomico County, George Shivers holds a doctorate from the University of Maryland and taught in the Foreign Language Dept. of Washington College for 38 years before retiring in 2007. He is also very interested in the history and culture of the Eastern Shore, African American history in particular.

Tom Timberman

Tom Timberman is a lawyer, and former Foreign Service officer and economic development team leader/government adviser in war zones. He and his wife have lived in Kent County for 24 years.

Linda G. Weimer

Linda G. Weimer retired from fulltime news reporting in 2009 after three years with the Sun Media Group's suburban Baltimore weeklies headquartered in Towson. As a freelancer, her work has appeared in more than a dozen regional and national publications, including the magazines of Johns Hopkins and Loyola universities, The Washington Post, Sierra Magazine, Seafood Leader, and twice in the New York Times.

Gren Whitman

As a community organizer, journalist, administrator, project planner/manager, and consultant, Gren Whitman has led neighborhood, umbrella, public interest, and political committees and groups, and worked for civil rights and anti-war organizations.