Beech River Books

Dudley Laufman was raised in the Boston area but has lived most of his adult years in New Hampshire. He lives on the edge of the woods in Canterbury with Jacqueline.

Since 1986, Jacqueline and Dudley Laufman have been playing for dances as Two Fiddles. Prior to that, Dudley, who has been playing and calling dances for sixty years, has been the leader of Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra, the first dance band to make an LP recording of the New England jigs and reels most often used for dancing. Jacqueline and Dudley have an earthy sound that combines with the beating of their feet as they call out the figures for old time New Hampshire barn and square dances. They are self-taught and play by ear, having learned by the oral tradition.

Dudley has been nominated for a Pushcart Award and is the recipent of the Governor’s Award in the Arts Lifetime Achievement Folk Heritage Award for 2001. In May 2009 he was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts and is featured in two films, The Other Way Back and Country Corners.

Walking Sticks (Beech River Books, 2007) is a collection of 135 poems from many decades that confirms Laufman's equal dedication as a poet. The writing is firmly rooted in a story-telling tradition that is folksy, approachable, and unpretentious. Laufman shows us how to love the land, animals, plants and people with a tender appreciation of their inner qualities and with subdued but sustained wonder at the power of each experience that makes up a life.