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• Opening a Solitary Occupation

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• Upcoming Events

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• Washington, D.C. Selects a Maine Winner for Letters About Literature

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• Recent Grants

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• What We’re Reading

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• Quote of the Month

“In reality, every reader is, while he is reading, the reader of his own self. The writer’s work is merely a kind of optical instrument which he offers to the reader to enable him to discern what, without this book, he would perhaps never have experienced in himself. And the recognition by the reader in his own self of what the book says is the proof of its veracity.”

— Time Regained
Marcel Proust

Over the last month, my mind has been greatly occupied by what a good discussion can do. This was prompted in part by a marvelous and controversial film I saw, a philanthropy conference I attended, and a book I read about England during Austerity that a dear friend gave me. The discussions that I had around each of these experiences have, in the last month, brought me to wonderful and broad horizons of thought, some of which were pleasant reminders of things that I have always enjoyed thinking and talking about, but others were entirely new. The book about England’s period of Austerity was particularly moving in that it illustrated beautifully what wise historians always say: to understand where we are in today’s world, we must understand the brilliant choices and mistakes made in the past. It was wonderful not just to mull over this idea and the specific things I learned but to talk about them with a fellow reader (my husband, who happened to be reading the book at the same time).

Which brings me to my point: reading’s potential for being a shared and community experience is extraordinary. Books are means of relaxing, of thinking and growing, but are often a solitary occupation that continues once the book is closed. While we at the Council respect the need for books to be experienced in that manner, through many of our programs we share the community that can exist beyond the closed book.

One of my favorites is Let’s Talk About It, our reading and discussion program that takes place in Maine libraries (and sometimes community centers), presented in partnership with the Maine State Library. Let’s Talk About It offers themed series to libraries across the state, loaning books to participants and providing a scholar/facilitator to provide background on the texts and help lead the discussion. These series range from detective fiction to the Maine wilderness to the role of individuals and the family in Japan (the latter is a new series to be presented in 2007). This program uses some of our best scholars, great texts, and is free to the public. The series go on throughout the year in communities across the state. If you are interested in being part of a larger reading experience, please contact Let’s Talk About It’s program officer, Elizabeth Sinclair, to find out what series might be offered near your hometown next.

In the meantime, try something: Read a book with a friend, and when you’re finished, sit down and talk about how it moved you, surprised you, or brought you to a new horizon. Trust me. It’s a lovely experience.

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30th Anniversary Activities Update

The Maine Humanities Council’s “Taxing Maine” theater-of-ideas tour is gaining venues every week. A performance list will be updated frequently.

Here is a teaser for this month: Our Humanities Festival on October 20 and 21 in Lewiston featuring some of Maine’s finest scholars and storytellers has confirmed Ashley Bryan, Jo Radner, Rebecca Corey, and David Weiss as speakers. This is a free program open to the public. I will continue sharing updates here, but if you’d like to be on the paper mailing list for more information, please contact me at diane@mainehumanities.org or by calling 1-866-MEREADER (my extension is 208).

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Grant-Funded Events

We have, as always, our ongoing series of grant-funded events across the state listed here.

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Through our Harriet P. Henry Center for the Book, the Maine Humanities Council hosts an annual competition for young readers in which they write letters to their favorite authors sharing how they were changed and what they learned from a particular reading experience. Letters About Literature is a national program, and each year a group of judges in Maine selects finalists and runners-up of three age groups of Maine students to compete on the national level.

This is a very calm prelude to the announcement that a Maine student has won her age group at the national level (when we heard the news, a great many fingers launched into swift and frenzied typing, and cries of joy rang out within these warm brick walls). Lacie Craven is a 15-year-old from Bucks Harbor, Maine, who wrote a beautiful letter to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings for The Yearling. What made Lacie’s letter so lovely was the tenderness with which she wrote of her own experience with fragile and delicate creatures like the fawn that is the center of Rawlings’ book. Lacie’s family raises sheep and she has long worked with the lambs. Here is an excerpt from Lacie’s letter:

“I live near the ocean, under a mountain, on a farm. We raise a lot of different animals, but mostly sheep. We also hunt for our food. These things made me feel very close to the characters in this book. If you have sheep, you have orphaned lambs, if you have orphaned lambs, you have true friends.”

The full text of Lacie’s letter, as well as letters from state finalists, will be available on our website soon. In the meantime, all of us wish Lacie our warmest congratulations for this wonderful achievement.

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$500 to the Bethel Historical Society, Bethel, for 40th Anniversary Lectures
This lecture series in honor of the Society’s 40th anniversary celebrates its dedication to the study of life in northern New England.

$500 to the Hancock County Cultural Network, Ellsworth, for Brown Bag Lecture Series
Lunchtime programs will feature visual or performing artists, or representatives of County cultural organizations. Attendees will be encouraged to interact with program presenters in order to gain a deeper understanding of the arts and organizations.

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Imagine that you are very different from your peers-in temperament, outlook, and vision-and you will have a sense of what Ferdinand faces in Munro Leaf’s classic The Story of Ferdinand. Forget for a moment that the protagonist is a bull in Spain. He is a sweet fellow who wishes only to enjoy what is most meaningful and beautiful in life: the flowers, sun, and quiet. Ferdinand is a thoughtful character who is comfortable being himself, even when faced with the pressure of serving as the bull in the ring, which happens when he is selected—by mistake—by bullfight organizers as the fiercest, toughest bull in his field. Ferdinand’s reaction to this challenge in particular opens the text up for fascinating discussions among New Books, New Readers participants who are reading the “Differences” series.

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“It gives me a chance to discuss different things with my grandchildren.”

— from New Books, New Readers participant in Waterville.

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