Maine Humanities Council

Wonder what writers really think about? Get ready for a literary extravaganza! The Maine Festival of the Book, brought to you by Maine Reads brings together writers and readers to enjoy readings, panel discussions, book signings, and performances. With the exception of Opening Night and Youth Outreach, festival events are first-come, first-served, un-ticketed seating, and are free. Almost 2000 people attended this year’s three-day event. In its four years of existence, the Maine Festival of the Book has featured more than 200 authors, including four Pulitzer Prize winners.

For more information about The Maine Festival of the Book and to join the mailing list for 2011, check out Maine Read’s website.

This lectured entitled “The Reawakening of Ayn Rand” featured Anne C. Heller, author of Ayn Rand and the World She Made, offers a new perspective on the novelist-philosopher’s life and work and why she is still popular today.

The Maine Festival of the Book is an annual festival brought to you by Maine Reads with support from the Maine Humanities Council.

 

 The Reawakening of Ayn Rand [57:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1)

In the “flash reading” by Stonecoast MFA program faculty members, each writer gets three minutes in which to share his or her work before introducing the next writer in the queue. The flash reading from Stonecoast’s summer residency in July 2009 began with an introduction by director Annie Finch. Joan Connor started the reading with her “Three-Minute Love Story.” Aaron Hamburger read an excerpt from his story “Ludmilla in the New World,” published in the anthology Between Men 2. The next reader was Richard Hoffman, who read from his collection, Interference and Other Stories. Barbara Hurd shared the opening of a novel, Slow Dance on a Slanted Floor, then Michael Kimball read from his novel Mouth to Mouth. Debra Marquart read the essay “Whisker Meditations,” and finally, Suzanne Strempek Shea closed the reading with an excerpt from a story published in “Golf World” magazine.

This reading took place in Brunswick, Maine, on July 10, 2009. Stonecoast is the low-residency MFA program in creative writing at the University of Southern Maine. For more readings from faculty members, including other flash readings, click on the “Stonecoast” tag, below.

 

 Flash Reading [37:05m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1271)

In this three-part episode, two particularly quick-witted and talkative apes, Hannah Holmes (The Well-Dressed Ape) and Bill Roorbach (Temple Stream), address their collisions with the rest of the natural world. Roorbach’s recent work has taken him into the woods and fields behind his own house, a primitive but not always private domain. Holmes has turned inward, primarily, to consider the fundamental animalness of this ape we so often mistake for something extraordinary. Here, they each share their own work before turning their practiced analytical eyes on one another.

This conversation between Hannah Holmes and Bill Roorbach took place at the Maine Festival of the Book, sponsored by Maine Reads, on April 4, 2009.

 

 Bill Roorbach reading [14:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (823)

 

 Hannah Holmes reading [10:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (149)

 

 Meeting of the Apes [23:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (149)

Chris Bohjalian is the author of eleven novels, including the New York Times bestsellers The Double Bind, Before You Know Kindness, The Law of Similars, and Midwives. Bohjalian won the New England Book Award in 2002. His work has been translated into 25 languages and has sold over three and a half million copies. He lives in Vermont, where he has been a Sunday columnist for the Burlington Free Press since 1992. In this excerpt from his reading in Portland, Bohjalian comments on the state of reading in the U.S., shares an anecdote from a previous book tour, and explains the inspiration for his World War II love story, Skeletons at the Feast.

This reading was part of the Portland Public Library’s Brown Bag Lecture Series, sponsored by Martin’s Point Health Care. Please feel free to add your comments below.

 

 Chris Bohjalian [16:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (806)

A Coastal Companion: A Year in the Gulf of Maine, from Canada to Cape Cod (Tilbury House, 2008) is part field guide, part almanac; a celebration of the natural world that also highlights people who have chosen the Gulf of Maine as the setting for their life’s work. Poems by contemporary Maine poets open each chapter, and illustrations by two Maine artists, Kimberleigh Martul-March and Margaret Campbell, are featured throughout the text. Author Catherine Schmitt, a science writer for the Maine Sea Grant College Program, opens this reading with an excerpt from the book, then introduces contributor Annaliese Jakimides (pictured at right) for a poetry reading.

This reading took place at Borders in South Portland on July 22, 2008. We welcome your feedback.

 

 Annaliese Jakimides and A Coastal Companion [22:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (958)

Alison Hawthorne Deming is the author of three books of poetry, three nonfiction books, and two limited-edition chapbooks. Her place-based writing has earned her fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown , the Arizona Commission on the Arts, and the Tucson/Pima Arts Council; as well as many awards, including the Bayer Award in science writing from Creative Nonfiction for the essay “Poetry and Science: A View from the Divide.” Deming was born and raised in Connecticut, but currently lives near Aqua Caliente Hill in Tucson, where she serves as Professor in Creative Writing at the University of Arizona. Here, she is introduced by Stonecoast faculty member Barbara Hurd.

This reading took place in Brunswick, Maine, during the summer residency of the Stonecoast MFA program in July, 2008. Stonecoast is the low-residency MFA program in creative writing at the University of Southern Maine.We welcome your feedback on this Alison Hawthorne Deming podcast.

 

 Alison Hawthorne Deming [33:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1053)