Of Newspapers and Novels: A Short Chat with Writer John Hough, Jr.

When I was dreaming up the notion of the Spy in the fall of 2008, I was motivated to start this very modest enterprise due to a few serendipitous encounters with two unique individuals. The first was Dave Mitchell, the editor, and publisher of the Point Reyes Light in West Marin, Calif. With a lifetime of running this Pulitzer prize-winning rural newspaper, Dave could not have been a better example of what a modest publication could do for a community (Point Reyes has less than 500 permanent residents), but also the joy and a sense of purpose it gives its editor. I remain forever grateful for his example. 

The other influencer was someone I never met. Henry Beetle Hough died in 1984 after being the editor and publisher of the Vineyard Gazette for an astonishing 65 years at 88 years old. When a much-beloved uncle recommended Henry’s Country Editor to me shortly after Beetle’s death, he said he had two reasons in mind for doing so. One was the quality of Henry’s writing, but more importantly, it documented a life extraordinarily well-lived. 

I’ll leave it our readers to discover Hough’s remarkable books which put the spotlight on this remote New England island, but I assure you that the parallels to our own Eastern Shore’s rural peninsula run deep. 

In the meantime, I was recently introduced to his nephew, the highly regarded author John Hough, Jr., by a good friend a few weeks ago. I immediately wanted to talk to him about his writing and the four generations of Hough newspaper publishers on Cape Cod that is his legacy.

And like his grandfather, his father, and uncle, John uses the nuanced techniques of a small-town reporter to tell his stories but adds the creative tool of fiction to bring to light those adventures but also the sometimes excruciating moral dilemmas a small newspaper must endure as it attempts to fulfill its mission. 

This video is approximately minutes in length. For more information about John Hough, Jr. please go here.

Dave Wheelan is the editor and publisher of the nonprofit Chestertown Spy, Talbot Spy, and more recently, the Cambridge Spy. He also serves as president of the Spy Community Media Fund of the Mid-Shore Community Foundation.