Vermont has the most working artists per capita and the second-most working writers compared to other states, Andrew Van Dam of the Washington Post found.
Vermont is second only to the District of Columbia when it comes to having working writers. The state is also the birthplace of more working artists than anywhere else in the country. Van Dam’s report is based on analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
This probably doesn’t surprise too many Vermonters. Green Mountain State winters are punctuated by dozens of craft fairs. In the summer, plenty of bucolic, secluded scenes inspire artists and writers: grassy fields rippled by breezes, dapples of light at a favorite swimming hole.
The list of past and present writers and artists who have called Vermont home is dizzying. Robert Frost lived and worked in Ripton for much of his life. Nobel Prize-winning author Sinclair Lewis lived in Barnard. Shirley Jackson was living in North Bennington when the New Yorker published “The Lottery.”
Van Dam notes that the states where writers grow up tend to have higher incomes and more advanced degrees than other places. But visual artists are spread more evenly, and less predictably, across the United States.Katherine Paterson — author of more than 40 books, including Bridge to Terabithia — has called Vermont home for the past 37 years. Vermont’s creative community has sustained her, she said.
“I love living in a place where it’s not even weird to be a children’s writer,” Paterson said. “We’re treated like intelligent human beings.”
The winner of the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award moved more than 15 times in 13 years during her childhood, but she thinks Vermont has something special going on.
“Drive slowly,” Paterson warned. “You might hit an artist.”
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