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 [ 14:18 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (2658)

Hannah Holmes reading [ 10:15 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (245)

Meeting of the Apes [ 23:45 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (248)

Hannah Holmes took a geology class at the University of Southern Maine that led to a career as a science writer, someone who turns the facts of science into stories, sometimes mysteries, with exciting plots and intriguing characters. She has toured the world for Discovery, making the complexities of science comprehensible, and scientists comprehensibly human as well. Much nearer home, she studied her backyard in Suburban Safari: A Year on the Lawn (Bloomsbury, 2005). Her newest book is The Well-Dressed Ape: A Natural History of Myself (Random House, 2009).

This interview with Hannah Holmes by Charlotte Albright was included in the Council’s 30th Anniversary ‘Maine Writers Speak’ project. We welcome your feedback.

Interview with Hannah Holmes [ 9:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (2391)