Yankee Notebook
My weekly column, “A Yankee Notebook”, appears in several New England newspapers. Here are the most recent columns:
- October 27, 2024
- Bracing Ourselves
- October 20, 2024
- On the Road Again
- October 13, 2024
- Toasting the Trees
About Will…
Willem Lange was born in 1935. A child of deaf parents, he grew up speaking sign language and first came to New England to prep school in 1950 as an alternative to reform school in his native New York State.
During a few absences from New England, Will earned a degree in only nine years at the College of Wooster in Ohio. In between those scattered semesters, he worked as a ranch hand, Adirondack guide, preacher, construction laborer, bobsled run announcer, assembly line worker, cab driver, bookkeeper, and bartender. After graduating in 1962, he taught high school English in northern New York, filling in summers as an Outward Bound instructor. More…
READ Will…
Read A Yankee Notebook Will's weekly column. Savor a classic short story or buy one of Willem Langes's ten published books to date: A Dream of Dragons, Tales from the Edge of the Woods, Favor Johnson: A Christmas Story, Where Does the Wild Goose Go? more »
HEAR Will…
Listen to Will's recent commentaries on Vermont Public Radio (VPR).Listen to a story snippet from Will's CD, Not Love at First Sight: Stories from New England, or buy a CD online… more »
SEE Will …
See Will's award winning TV show: Windows to the Wild (NHPTV), or buy his video: Tales from the North Country, or check out Will's latest Photo album and slideshow more…
Books by Willem Lange
Words from the Wild: my latest book…
Words from the Wild is a collection of 28 favorite columns about the places we've traveled to and the people we've met along the way while filming episodes of the award-winning series Windows to the Wild for New Hampshire Public Television. » more…
“...Heartfelt, but never sentimental; humorous, but always thoughtful; biting, but always kind”
- Words from the Wild (2015)
- The White-Footed Mouse (2012)
- A Dream of Dragons (2011)
- Intermittent Bliss: Reflections on a Long Love Affair (2003)
- Where Does the Wild Goose Go? (2001)
- John and Tom (2001)
- Okay, Let's Try It Again (1999)
- Tales from the Edge of the Woods (1998)
Children’s books
- Favor Johnson: A Christmas Story (2009)
- John and Tom (2001)
Favor Johnson: A Christmas Story
A mystery hangs over a village as Christmas approaches. Who is delivering, door-to-door, dozens of homemade fruitcakes from house to house? A modern American folktale, Favor Johnson: A Christmas Story has been a favorite radio story for twenty-five years and is published now for the first time, brought to life by the wonderful watercolor illustrations of Bert Dodson. The unsentimental but completely heartwarming story of Favor Johnson, his dog Hercules, Doctor Jennings, and the mysterious house-to-house delivery of homemade fruit cakes on Christmas Eve has become a Vermont classic tale. September 2009 » more…
A Dream of Dragons
A Dream of Dragons is a proper and modern Norse saga written with all the power of Melville and Hemingway and a true story now retold in the ageless rhythms of blank verse as irresistible as the beautiful and especially commissioned wood cuts of Vermont artist and Caldecott medalist Mary Azarian. » more…
“...a fascinating tale!”
WINDOWS TO THE WILD
Watch Will on New Hampshire Public Television's award-winning WINDOWS TO THE WILD weekly outdoor adventure series.
Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. on NHPTV
For show dates and program descriptions, visit the TV program, watch online, see the photo gallery or explore the Flickr photostream. Here’s an example of a Windows to the Wild program about one of the exciting wild places just outside your window…
Episode: Bridle Path to Greenleaf
Host Willem Lange and his daughter Virginia hike the Old Bridle Path in Franconia Notch State Park. The path once served as a horse trail from the Notch to the Old Summit House, which provided shelter for climbers, but only the house's foundation remains. After enjoying the views from the top of Mount Lafayette, they spend a relaxing night in the AMC Greenleaf Hut just below the summit. More…
Not Love at First Sight: Stories from New England (CD)
Listen to an mp3 snippet from The White-Footed Mouse
Willem Lange has lived in New England for over fifty years, working everywhere from the lumber woods in the Adirondacks and the coastal islands of Maine to the ivied halls of Dartmouth College. All through his travels he has picked up stories — hundreds of them — about this unique place and the complicated, reticent, dry-humoured people we call Yankees. The Not Love at First Sight CD is a collection of nine of these tales read aloud by the author, a master storyteller.
