Shannon Butler, 33, joined the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) as office manager at the beginning of January. Butler, a Caribou native, had worked for eleven years at book publishing company Islandport Press in Yarmouth, starting right after graduating from the University of Maine at Farmington. At Islandport she progressed over the years into steadily more challenging positions, from assistant office manager to office manager, operations manager and finally vice-president.
Butler laughed when she recalled moving from the top of the state to the Portland area. “It was a little bit of a culture shock, coming from Caribou and Farmington. The pace of life was a little different,” she admitted.
Islandport Press was founded in 1999 by Dean Lunt to publish New England books in a variety of genres. Its first publication, Hauling by Hand: The Life and Times of a Maine Island, featured a photo of Lunt’s grandfather, Sanford “Dick” Lunt, on the cover.
During her years at Islandport Press, Butler met individuals from throughout the state. “I had in-depth exposure to all sorts of people,” Butler said. “I learned to work with people of all ages and abilities. Many had never written a book before. They all had great stories to tell.” Islandport Press was a small company so Butler was involved in all aspects of publishing, from reading manuscripts as they came in to copyediting and proofreading. “I think I had a hand in more than 200 books during my time there,” she said.
Among those titles was her very own book, All Is Calm: A Maine Christmas Reader. “It’s an anthology of nonfiction Christmas stories from Maine spanning from pre-statehood years up to present day, little snapshots of what Mainers have been doing in December for the last 200 years or so,” Butler explained. All Is Calm was a finalist for a Maine Literary Award in 2020 and has recently been published in an expanded second edition.
The company was recently purchased by Islandport Media, which owns a number of small Maine newspapers and other businesses. After eleven years, Butler felt it was time for a change. “I see many similarities with the MLA,” she said. “It’s a small organization and scrappy. I’m certainly familiar with ‘all hands on deck’ situations. I’m willing to pitch in anywhere, it’s what I enjoy. Every day is a little different!”
While Butler acknowledges she doesn’t have broad knowledge of the Maine lobster fishery, she has learned a few important things since starting in January. “It is such a complicated, nuanced industry! It’s much more complicated than most people know. It’s an exciting time to be stepping in and I know I will be learning for a long time,” she said.
When she’s not learning all about lobstering, Butler and her partner spend time fixing up their 1935 house in Kennebunk. “We’re learning how to repair just about everything,” she said. “We joke that it’s clear no one wealthy has ever lived in this house!”
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