An Interview with Nat Philbrick

Nantucket-based writer Nat Phibrick recently talked at the NHA's Whaling Museum for the Brown Bag Lunch Series.

Photo Credit: Liz Huberman

Local author Nat Philbrick took to the podium for the Brown Bag Lunch talk at The Whaling Museum.

Philbrick delivered a great talk to the crowd at The Whaling Museum.

The NHA has been hosting a weekly series called Brown Bag Lunch.

Nantucket author Nat Philbrick spoke to a large crowd at The Whaling Museum on the history of Quakerism on the island as part of the Nantucket Historical Association's Brown Bag Lunch series. Afterwards, we got a chance to catch up with Nat to talk to him about his writing, what inspires him, and what the future holds for his writing.

P: Tell me about your affiliation with Quakerism.

NP: It goes back to my mother. She was a Quaker as a youth and ended up being Episcopalian. I remember her taking us to a meeting; she kept a lifelong friendship up with David Ritchie, who is one of the leading Quaker activists in Philadelphia. There definitely were personal connections, so it was interesting moving to Nantucket, the once-capital, in a way, of Quakers & whaling.

P: What is Mayflower, your most recent book about?

NP: Mayflower, it’s about another religiously-minded group: the Pilgrims, as we call them. They were Puritan Separatists, very different from Quakers, but similar to Nantucket, in that they created a community where their religious beliefs were the main force. It was interesting after writing that book; it gave me a little bit of a different perspective on Quakerism on Nantucket.

P: How does Mayflower compare to the success of In the Heart of the Sea, your first big seller?

NP: Mayflower has sold more books. Each book is different; it’s just a different feeling. In The Heart of the Sea was my first, so it always has a slightly different feel than Mayflower.

P: What authors do you admire?

NP: I admire so many authors. It’s funny, I try to read fiction when I’m reading for pleasure. I’m a big Stephen King fan. I grew up as an English major, so I’m a huge Melville and Falkner fan, and there’s people like David McCullough, David Halberstam have been writers I’ve looked to not only professionally but as real role models. For me, with each book I work on, I’m reading all the time, and it’s for work. So it’s kind of distressing how much little reading beyond whatever topic I’m working on I do.

P: Where do you draw your inspiration from, being a part of the Nantucket community?

NP: I think Nantucket’s a great place for me to be a writer... particularly in the winter; it’s a nice little urban center that’s very quiet, it’s a perfect place to try to do these kinds of things. I just get a huge inspiration from the beauty of Nantucket. My wife and I will walk the dog in the morning and look around and go ‘My gosh! We’re really lucky to be here.” That definitely makes it a little easier sometimes to go back down into the dungeon where my office is and work for eight hours.

P: I’m sure it’s not that bad.

NP: Oh, it’s bad.

P: What makes Nantucket’s sea tales so unique versus other places?

NP: Nantucket’s an island, and, as an island, it’s got a mote around it of about 30 miles, so the people inside evolved in their own little microcosm, and in odd ways, and with real intensity. I think that’s created a real cultural force on Nantucket that is pretty hard to find anywhere else. You put in the ingredients of whaling with Quakerism, which is about as different of an ingredient as you can think of, along with this unique sand bank all this way out into the middle of the ocean, those add up to a really different kind of place.

P: Any new books on the way?

NP: Yes. Next fall I’ll be publishing a version of Mayflower for young people called The Mayflower in the Pilgrim’s New World. I just finished that up and it’s got a great cover, I’m really excited about that. I’m currently working on my next book, which is about The Battle of Little Big Horn that moved west. It’s a topic I’ve always been fascinated with ever since I was a little kid. I’ve got a maritime angle in that the rivers actually play a huge part in the battle, and I’m really enjoying it. Unfortunately it takes a number of years to write these books, so I’ll be a while in coming.

For more on books & authors on Nantucket, take a look at our Books section on Plum.