[K]ind remembrances continue to pour in for Northeast Kingdom author Howard Frank Mosher, who died Sunday from cancer.
Among those fondly recalling Mosher’s work was one of his collaborators, filmmaker Jay Craven of Kingdom County Productions. Craven turned a handful of Mosher’s books into feature films, transforming the words on the page into scenes on the screen.
In a commentary, Craven recalled his friend’s gift for portraying the Northeast Kingdom, as well as his sense of humor, his “cool” wife, Phillis, and how he dealt with negative reviews.
“The 29 years I spent working with Howard Mosher have been the most challenging and satisfying period of my professional and creative life. Indeed, it has been the core of it. I couldn’t be more grateful to this remarkable man, toiling each day in longhand over his yellow legal pads, breathing life into stories that have become so much a part of us,” Craven wrote.
They worked together on “Disappearances,” “Where the Rivers Flow North,” “A Stranger in the Kingdom” and “Northern Borders.”
“Howard trusted me to render these richly detailed characters on film,” Craven said, adding that “his characters were flawed and often dark but they were deeply human. They could be simultaneously heroic and their own worst enemy.”
Among the better-known actors Craven was able to attract in adapting Mosher’s books were Rip Torn, Tantoo Cardinal, Genevieve Bujold, Kris Kristofferson, Bruce Dern, Ernie Hudson, Henry Gibson, Martin Sheen, Tom Aldredge, Jessica Hecht and Rusty DeWees.
Craven and DeWees will be screening two of Mosher’s films this weekend at the Stowe Town Hall: “Where the Rivers Flow North” on Friday and “A Stranger in the Kingdom” on Saturday, both at 7:30 p.m. The two will also talk about their collaboration with Mosher.
In a 2012 radio interview on WDEV FM-AM, Mosher spoke about his book “The Great Northern Express: A Writer’s Journey Home.” Part travel memoir, part autobiography, it chronicles Mosher’s monumental road trip in his 20-year-old Chevy. In the interview, he also talked about his writing career and style — working on two books sometimes at a time — and his wife of more than 50 years, Phillis, whom he first met in high school in sophomore English class.
“I can still remember that morning. She walked in a little bit later than I did and sat down, and I remember, of course, how pretty she was, but I also remember what a sweet and lovely smile she had and still has,” he said.
“She is my first and best critic,” he said and “my compass for what works and doesn’t work in my stories.”
Mosher had already finished his latest work, “Points North,” which is expected to be published this year.
Editor’s note: Jay Craven is the father of VTDigger reporter Jasper Craven.
