Dibner, Martin (1912 - 1991)

Genre: General Fiction, Non-Fiction

Martin Dibner, who resided in Casco, Maine, was born in Brooklyn, New York. He received a B.A. in banking and finance from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, in 1933. He also studied at the Art Students League in New York. After college, New York and Miami commercial art firms and newspapers employed him as an art or creative director. His Navy experience during World War II provided the plot and characters for several of his novels. After the war, he did graduate work in painting and sculpture at Rollins College in Florida.

Dibner was awarded a Breadloaf Fellowship in 1960. Two years later he was a Huntington Hartford Foundation fellow. In the late 1960s, Dibner was appointed the first director of the California Art Commission. In the early 1970s he moved to Maine where he had vacationed for many years. When Westbrook College's Joan Whitney Payson Gallery opened in 1977, Dibner was hired as its first director.

Dibner entered a new phase of his creative career when he became a mentor and teacher to many Maine short story and novel writers who studied creative writing with him. The Maine Community Foundation honors and memorializes Dibner's commitment to emerging talent in its annual Martin Dibner Fellowships.

Selected Bibliography

Fiction

  • The Bachelor Seals, (1948)
  • The Deep Six (1953), his most popular novel, released as a film in 1958.
  • Showcase, (1958)
  • Sleeping Giant (1960)
  • A God For Tomorrow (1961)
  • The Admiral: A Novel (1967)
  • The Trouble With Heroes (1971)
  • Ransom Run (1977)
  • Devil's Paintbrush (1983)

Non-fiction

  • A History Of Casco, Maine (1976)
  • Seacoast Maine; People And Places (1973/1987) text for George Tice's photographic book.
  • Portrait of Paris Hill : a landmark Maine village (1990)
  • John Muench: Paintings And Prints 1950-1990 / with An Introductory Essay By Judith Sobol And A Biography by Martin Dibner (1991)
  • The Arts in California; a Report to the Governor and the Legislature By the California Arts Commission on the Cultural and Artistic Resources of the State of California (1966)

Selected Resources