Moonshell productions publishes works of fiction, produces fine art, and license designs on a variety of products through Red Bubble. Since 1980, Dana Kester-McCabe has been sole owner and operator.
Dana Kester-McCabe was raised in Newtown, a small suburban community in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. She was the third of four girls. Her mother, Mary Kester, was a librarian. Father Paul Kester was an attorney and the county court administrator. The Kesters were active members of the Religious Society of Friends (the Quakers).
As a very little girl, Dana showed an early interest in creativity. She spent most of her time drawing, reading, or watching old movies. She also developed a lifelong love of nature wandering around the area’s woods and streams. After her secondary education she earned a BFA in painting and communication design at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. She spent most of her career as a freelance graphic designer.
Among a variety of her “legit” jobs, Dana worked at a CBS affiliate television station WBOC in Salisbury, Maryland. There she wrote and produced television commercials, then managed the news website for three years. The site and Dana’s team won a 2001 regional Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA). Laid off following a company reorganization, Dana returned to freelance design through her company Moonshell Productions.
During that time Dana wrote, produced, and hosted an online regional culture magazine, the Delmarva Almanac. She interviewed artists, and covered local history. Dana produced the magazine for several years including two seasons as a radio show on Salisbury, Maryland NPR affiliates WSDL/WSCL. After the show’s conclusion, Dana let go her freelance clients. This freed her to concentrate on her own creative interests which included writing fiction, and producing fine art. Dana’s paintings are created using a splatter and glaze technique she developed while in college. These works celebrate the female experience and the natural world.
Dana’s fiction focuses on strong women characters drawing inspiration from historical figures. Her first novel, The Persistent Buccaneer, explored the colonial exploits of the real-life Anne Toft. Her second novel, Turtle Logic, was based in part on a scandalous Jazz Age feminist who knew that intrigue, adventure, and a sense of humor are always in fashion.
The mother of two adult sons, Dana lives with her husband on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.