Christmas Book From New Capital Region Publisher Comes to Saratoga

SARATOGA SPRINGS — A new independent book publishing imprint based in the Capital Region is releasing “The Woodcutter’s Christmas” in time for the holiday season, and the book’s author and photographer will visit Saratoga Springs for a special signing event at the Northshire Bookstore during the Victorian Streetwalk from 6 to 8 p.m. on Dec. 4. 

The new, deluxe edition of “The Woodcutter’s Christmas” from Galpón Press is set between the serene beauty of winter in Vermont and the gritty streets of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The story explores the contrast between “nature’s slow, steady rhythms and the disposable culture of contemporary society.” The book was originally published 25 years ago but has long been unavailable.

The original book by Brad Kessler features a new selection of Dona Ann McAdam’s original photographs with an updated text also by Kessler. 

Kessler is also the author of “North” (2021), “Goat Song” (2009), “Birds in Fall” (2006), “Lick Creek” (2001), and editor and co-creator of “Deep North: Stories of Somali Resettlement in Vermont” (2023). His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Kenyon Review, The New Yorker, and Literary Hub.

McAdams, whose career retrospective exhibition opened at Pratt Manhattan galleries this past spring, is the author of the photographic memoir, “Black Box” (2024). She has exhibited her work at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and many other institutions. She and Kessler, her husband, live on a goat farm in Vermont.

Based out of a shed (“galpón” in Spanish) on Filmore Farm in Washington County, Galpón Press is part of the newly formed Filmore Projects LLC.