Shannon Mullen presents "In Other Words, Leadership"

Shannon A. Mullen is a journalist, author, screenwriter, playwright, podcast host and film producer, who has been telling stories in one form or another since childhood. She grew up in the White Mountains and Lakes Region of New Hampshire and studied pre-veterinary medicine in college after misinterpreting a love of James Herriot’s books as an inclination toward animal husbandry. She then earned a graduate degree in broadcast journalism and spent more than a decade reporting for national programs on public radio, including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Weekend Edition, and Marketplace while also producing written journalism that appeared in such outlets as The New Yorker and The Boston Globe Magazine. More recently she branched out into writing for the film industry and is currently developing multiple projects for the stage and screen.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills had been in office only a year when the pandemic struck. Recently widowed and isolated alone in her mansion, she was a lightning rod for criticism as she enacted closures and touted vaccines. Amid the chaos, a mother named Shirah Knapp sent her a letter of support — and continued to do so weekly for more than a year. And the governor wrote back.

"In Other Words.." chronicles a year of letters between the Maine governor and her constituent.

Historian Heather Cox Richardson called it a “remarkable story of work, worry, art, faith, community, life, and hope. An instant classic.”