Maine Humanities Council

Site: Bolduc Correctional Facility

Series: Why Read?

This Session: Beating the Odds
Ruby’s Wish by Shirin Yim Bridges
Tomás and the Library Lady by Pat Mora
Richard Wright and the Library Card by William Miller

Contact: Julia Walkling 207-773-5051

New Books, New Readers is a humanities-based book discussion program for adults who are new readers or who are working to improve their reading. NBNR is supported in part by grants from Jane’s Trust, National Endowment for the Arts, Sam L. Cohen Foundation, TD Charitable Foundation, Rines/Thompson Fund of the Maine Community Foundation, and Edward H. Daveis Benevolent Fund of the Maine Community Foundation.

Crossroads to Freedom: Antietam by James McPheerson

Series: Making Sense of the Civil War

Location and Time: Springvale Public Library, Springvale, 6:30 (the program is free, pre-registration required)

Contact: Karen McCarthy Eger, 207-324-4624

Let’s Talk About It is a free, library-based, facilitated book discussion program for adults who want to talk about what they’ve read, presented in collaboration with the Maine State Library with major support from the Betterment Fund and additional funding from the Maine Charity Foundation at the Maine Community Foundation.

For more information about the series

In My Mother’s House by Kim Cherin

Series: Telling the Truth: The Subject of Autobiography

Location and Time: Auburn Public Library, Auburn, 2:00 p.m. (the program is free, pre-registration required)

Contact: Martin Gagnon, 207-864-5529

Let’s Talk About It is a free, library-based, facilitated book discussion program for adults who want to talk about what they’ve read, presented in collaboration with the Maine State Library with major support from the Betterment Fund and additional funding from the Maine Charity Foundation at the Maine Community Foundation.

For more information about the series

Selections from America’s War: Talking About Civil War and Emancipation on their 150th Anniversaries edited by Edward Ayers

Series: Making Sense of the Civil War

Location and Time: Phillips Public Library (the program is free, pre-registration required)

Contact: Contact: Hedy Langdon, 207-639-2665

Let’s Talk About It is a free, library-based, facilitated book discussion program for adults who want to talk about what they’ve read, presented in collaboration with the Maine State Library with major support from the Betterment Fund and additional funding from the Maine Charity Foundation at the Maine Community Foundation.

For more information about the series

Salem’s Lot by Stephen King

Series: The Mirror of Maine: The Maine Community in Myth and Realit

Location and Time: Albion Public Library, Albion, 6:30 p.m. (the program is free, pre-registration required)

Let’s Talk About It is a free, library-based, facilitated book discussion program for adults who want to talk about what they’ve read, presented in collaboration with the Maine State Library with major support from the Betterment Fund and additional funding from the Maine Charity Foundation at the Maine Community Foundation.

For more information about the series

Site: Oxford Hills

Series: Why Read?

This Session: When It's Hard
Mr. George Baker by Amy Hest
Just Juice by Karen Hesse
My Name is Brain Brian by Jeanne Betancourt

Contact: Julia Walkling 207-773-5051

New Books, New Readers is a humanities-based book discussion program for adults who are new readers or who are working to improve their reading. NBNR is supported in part by grants from Jane’s Trust, National Endowment for the Arts, Sam L. Cohen Foundation, TD Charitable Foundation, Rines/Thompson Fund of the Maine Community Foundation, and Edward H. Daveis Benevolent Fund of the Maine Community Foundation.

Location and Time: Glickman Library, University of Southern Maine, 6th floor, 5:00 p.m.

Contact: Susie Bock, 207-780-4269

For the past several years, USM's Special Collections has been working with the NAACP Portland Branch to re-assemble the records of branches of the NAACP in Maine. Last year and this year, a class from Bates College has been working to process this material so it is accessible to researchers. To celebrate this important collection the students have created an exhibition Making African American History: The Maine NAACP Collection, 1987-2012. A reception with light refreshment will be held.

Site: Bangor - Penobscot County Jail WOMEN

Series: Memories

This Session: Do Memories Matter?
The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland
Island Boy by Barbara Cooney
Sun and Spoon by Kevin Henkes

Contact: Julia Walkling 207-773-5051

New Books, New Readers is a humanities-based book discussion program for adults who are new readers or who are working to improve their reading. NBNR is supported in part by grants from Jane’s Trust, National Endowment for the Arts, Sam L. Cohen Foundation, TD Charitable Foundation, Rines/Thompson Fund of the Maine Community Foundation, and Edward H. Daveis Benevolent Fund of the Maine Community Foundation.

Site: Bangor - Penobscot County Jail MEN

Series: Memories

This Session: Do Memories Matter?
The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland
Island Boy by Barbara Cooney
Sun and Spoon by Kevin Henkes

Contact: Julia Walkling 207-773-5051

New Books, New Readers is a humanities-based book discussion program for adults who are new readers or who are working to improve their reading. NBNR is supported in part by grants from Jane’s Trust, National Endowment for the Arts, Sam L. Cohen Foundation, TD Charitable Foundation, Rines/Thompson Fund of the Maine Community Foundation, and Edward H. Daveis Benevolent Fund of the Maine Community Foundation.

Location and Time: Ogunquit Performing Arts, Ogunquit, 3 - 9 p.m.

Contact: Ogunquit Performing Arts

The Shakespeare Festival is a project to generate a new excitement and to breakdown misunderstandings of the works of William Shakespeare.

Location and Time: Log Cabin, Main Street, Yarmouth, 7:00 p.m.

Contact: Yarmouth Historical Society

Diana Tuite was co-curator of the popular 2011 Edward Hopper art exhibit at Bowdoin College. Ms. Tuite, the Mellon Curatorial Fellow at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art will discuss Edward Hopper and his connection to the Maine coast.

Site: Ellsworth

Series: Carrying the Past

This Session: Rising to the Occasion
Sacajawea: Her True Story by Joyce Milton
Uncle Jed's Barbershop by Margaree King Mitchell
Margaret Chase Smith: A Woman for President by Lynn Plourde

Contact: Julia Walkling 207-773-5051

New Books, New Readers is a humanities-based book discussion program for adults who are new readers or who are working to improve their reading. NBNR is supported in part by grants from Jane’s Trust, National Endowment for the Arts, Sam L. Cohen Foundation, TD Charitable Foundation, Rines/Thompson Fund of the Maine Community Foundation, and Edward H. Daveis Benevolent Fund of the Maine Community Foundation.

Location and Time: Noble High School, North Berwick, 9:30 a.m.

Contact: Kate Gardoqui, 207-676-2843

The Hero Project connected Noble High School with the North Berwick community though discussion of heroism and through celebration of local heroes. After reading historical and literary texts about the nature of morality and heroism the students found people within the North Berwick community who exemplify what it means to be a hero. The students then created works or writing and a public presentation to recognize these heroes.

Location: Togus VA Hospital, Togus (This program for health care professionals is offered through partnerships with interested health care facilities. Pre-registration is required).

Contact: Lizz Sinclair 207-773-5051 or lizz@mainehumanities.org

Literature & Medicine is a national award-winning reading and discussion program for health care professionals that has received major funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 2012 funding from the Fund for Literature & Medicine is helping support 7 sites throughout Maine.

Location and Time: Maine Historical Society, Portland, 7:00 p.m.

Contact: Maine Historical Society

About a dozen years ago, Prins and McBride, noted anthropologists who have done extensive work with Maine native communities, obtained a mid-19th century engraving of Mary Louise, a beautiful young Penobscot Indian woman, originally published as a ”Fashion Plate” in a popular women’s magazine. For purposes of mass reproduction, this fine image had been copied from a Daguerreotype, probably made by the young photographer Marcus Ormsbee who operated a studio at Middle Street in Portland. Although it is unlikely that the original artifact still exists, Prins and McBride claim that she was the first American Indian woman photographed in the Western hemisphere. Their presentation will explore her individual identity, comment on some fascinating details relevant to this particular portrait, and, last but not least, describe the long-forgotten coastal encampment just outside Portland frequented by Penobscots and other Wabanakis, including itinerant basketmakers, doctors, and showmen.

Site: Bangor - Women's Reentry Center

Series: Memories

This Session: Do Memories Matter?
The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland
Island Boy by Barbara Cooney
Sun and Spoon by Kevin Henkes

Contact: Julia Walkling 207-773-5051

New Books, New Readers is a humanities-based book discussion program for adults who are new readers or who are working to improve their reading. NBNR is supported in part by grants from Jane’s Trust, National Endowment for the Arts, Sam L. Cohen Foundation, TD Charitable Foundation, Rines/Thompson Fund of the Maine Community Foundation, and Edward H. Daveis Benevolent Fund of the Maine Community Foundation.

American’s War: Talking About Civil War and Emancipation on their 150th Anniversaries edited by Edward Ayers

Series: Making Sense of the Civil War

Location and Time: Windham Public Library, Windham, 6:15 p.m. (the program is free, pre-registration required)

Contact: Barbara Keef, 207-892-1908

Let’s Talk About It is a free, library-based, facilitated book discussion program for adults who want to talk about what they’ve read, presented in collaboration with the Maine State Library with major support from the Betterment Fund and additional funding from the Maine Charity Foundation at the Maine Community Foundation.

For more information about the series

Location: Stephens Memorial Hospital, Norway (This program for health care professionals is offered through partnerships with interested health care facilities. Pre-registration is required).

Contact: Lizz Sinclair 207-773-5051 or lizz@mainehumanities.org

Literature & Medicine is a national award-winning reading and discussion program for health care professionals that has received major funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 2012 funding from the Fund for Literature & Medicine is helping support 7 sites throughout Maine.