Dean L. Lunt, an eighth-generation native of Frenchboro, Maine, was born and raised in remote fishing village of Frenchboro, located on Long Island. His ancestors settled on Mount Desert Island in the late 1700s before relocating to Long Island in the early 1800s. He spent eight years in the island's one-room schoolhouse and later graduated from Mount Desert Island High School. He attended Syracuse University, earning dual bachelor of science degrees in newspaper journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and in marketing from the Martin J. Whitman School of Management.

Following graduation, Lunt embarked on a journalism career, working for twelve years as a reporter at daily newspapers across New England, including the The Springfield Newspapers, The Patriot Ledger, and the Portland Press Herald. He later worked as a freelance writer and project manager. His freelance clients included HP, where he worked as a technical writer and project manager overseeing the creation of worldwide event marketing materials for the workstation division.

 

In 1999, Lunt founded the small book publishing company Islandport Press in his Yarmouth basement, aiming to publish works that captured the essence of Maine and New England. The company's inaugural publication and Lunt's first book in 2000, "Hauling by Hand: The Life and Times of a Maine Island," drew inspiration from his grandmother Vivian Lunt Davis's writings about Frenchboro. Under Lunt's leadership, Islandport published more than 200 titles, including novels, children's books, memoirs, and art volumes, all reflecting Maine and New England culture and heritage. The books published by Islandport during that time won more than 70 book awards.

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In 2017, he launched Islandport Magazine, a quarterly publication that ran for about four years and further celebrated the region's stories and traditions. 

Lunt's writing has appeared in dozens of magazines and newspapers. His books include "Hauling by Hand," "Here for Generations: The Story of a Maine Bank and Its City," "Maine Trivia," and the upcoming "Voices off the Ocean."