Maine Humanities Council

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 (216)

 

 Hannah Holmes reading [10:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (107)

 

 Meeting of the Apes [23:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (104)

Bill Roorbach has written about a very personal part of Maine. Temple Stream (Dell, 2005) considers the stream that borders the fields below his house in Farmington; it won the nonfiction Maine Literary Award. His stories and novels deal with equally real and natural people. And he produces “teacherly tomes” on memoirs, essays, and Contemporary Creative Nonfiction: The Art of Truth (Oxford University Press, 2001).

This interview with Bill Roorbach by Charlotte Albright was included in the Council’s 30th Anniversary ‘Maine Writers Speak’ project. Please feel free to leave your feedback below.

 

 Interview with Bill Roorbach [5:27m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (99)