On Monday, December 1, at 6:00 p.m., the Easton branch of the Talbot County Free Library will host the official launch of Bill Peak’s new book “Adventures in Shelving, Vol. 2”—a collection of 95 columns and one children’s story the “library guy” wrote for The Star Democrat between June of 2015 and May of 2025. The evening will feature hors d’oeuvres and refreshments, and Peak will give a reading from the book and sign copies. All proceeds from sale of the book ($15 a copy) will benefit the Talbot County Free Library.
The publication of this book was made possible through the efforts of many individuals and organizations. The publishers of The Star Democrat generously gave permission for the columns, originally printed in their paper, to be republished in support of the library. Ron Sauder, principal of Secant Publishing, LLC, volunteered his expertise to guide the book through publication, in appreciation for the library’s support of his firm and its authors. Sauder also personally sponsored an online competition among graphic designers to create the book’s cover art. Additional publishing houses granted permission for their copyrighted material—excerpts from poems and books quoted in Peak’s columns—to be included in the final volume.
The first volume of Peak’s columns, “Adventures in Shelving,” published in 2015, featured work written between January 2008 and April 2015. That book sold out quickly, with all proceeds benefiting the library. That same year, Peak’s debut novel, “The Oblate’s Confession” received widespread acclaim, including a starred review from “Kirkus.” The novel earned silver in the Best New Voice: Fiction category of the Benjamin Franklin Awards, won the National Indie Excellence Award for Religion: Fiction, and was awarded second place in the Catholic Press Association’s Catholic Novel of the Year category. “Kirkus Reviews” named “The Oblate’s Confession” to its list of the best Indie books published in 2015. Peak’s poetry and prose have appeared in magazines and literary reviews, and his poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Writing about his new book in his most recent column for The Star Democrat, Peak noted, “Several of the columns consider what our community went through during the Covid pandemic, how we dealt with the limitations placed upon our commerce and our social lives, and how, despite these limitations, we managed to reach out and help one another. A few address the ever-widening political divide in our country at large, and how, once again, as a community, we have tried to rise above that division. But most of the book’s columns simply celebrate our community library, its collection, and the wonderful people who use that collection every day.”
Peak dedicated “Adventures in Shelving, Vol. 2” to the people of Talbot County. The book is a tribute to life on the Eastern Shore and the special place that is our library—an engaging read for anyone who values community, storytelling, and the enduring power of public libraries.
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