Maine Humanities Council

Born and raised in New York City, Ashley Bryan is another author “from away” who has found a home in Maine. Folklorist, writer, illustrator and performer, Bryan draws on African myths and tales, his own and others’ experience, and his literary, artistic and thespian talents to create children’s books (enjoyed by adults, too) and storytellings in schools and other venues, sometimes under the auspices of the Maine Humanities Council. (Read about his appearance at the 2005 Born to Read conference here). Bryan’s newest book is Let it Shine: Three Favorite Spirituals (Simon and Schuster, 2007).

This interview with Ashley Bryan by Charlotte Albright was included in the Council’s 30th Anniversary ‘Maine Writers Speak’ project. To hear more from Bryan, see the Children’s Book Council.

 

 Interview with Ashley Bryan [10:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (768)

Playwright Victoria Mares-Hershey’s “How Did You Get Here?” gives voice to Africans in Maine, during the period of slavery and beyond, by giving audiences a sense of their everyday lives. This reading of the play’s first act was recorded on March 21, 2008, at the Museum of African Culture on Brown Street in Portland. Museum Director Oscar Mokeme welcomes the audience and architect Stephen Oliver introduces the show, then volunteer actors join with Mares-Hershey to perform the excerpt.

We welcome your feedback on this performance of “How Did You Get Here?” which was supported by a Maine Humanities Council & Maine Arts Commission grant.

 

 How Did You Get Here? [31:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1179)

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas was nineteen when her father took his family to live among the Bushmen of the Kalahari. Fifty years later, after a life of writing and study, Thomas returns to her experiences in The Old Way: A Story of the First People. She recalls life with the Bushmen, one of the last hunter-gatherer societies on earth, and discovers among them an essential link to the origins of all human society. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas is the author of many books, including The Hidden Life of Dogs. She lives in Peterborough, New Hampshire.

This reading was part of the Portland Public Library’s Brown Bag Lecture Series, sponsored by Martin’s Point Health Care. We welcome your feedback on this Elizabeth Marshall Thomas podcast.

 

 Elizabeth Marshall Thomas [52:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1205)

The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton is a tale about an American librarian, Fiona Sweeney, who leaves Brooklyn to work for a relief organization in Africa that sends books on the backs of camels to forgotten villages. Fiona’s intentions are entirely pure but, when the bookmobile causes a feud among the nomadic tribe it aims to help, she realizes her good deeds may come with a high price. Hamilton worked as a foreign correspondent for The Associated Press for five years in the Middle East, spent five years in Moscow where she was a correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, then traveled to Afghanistan as a freelance journalist. She currently lives with her family in Brooklyn. To donate books to the real camel bookmobile in northern Kenya, visit the Camel Book Drive.

This reading was part of the Portland Public Library’s Brown Bag Lecture Series, sponsored by Martin’s Point Health Care. We welcome your feedback on this Masha Hamilton podcast.

 

 Masha Hamilton [30:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (106)