Maine Humanities Council

Poet Marilyn Nelson is the author or translator of twelve books and three chapbooks. She has won numerous awards, including two Boston Globe—Horn Book Awards, and is a three-time National Book Award Finalist. From the American Library Association, her books have received Newbery, Coretta Scott King, and Michael L. Printz Honors. Other honors include two NEA creative writing fellowships, two Pushcart Prizes, three honorary doctorates, and a fellowship from the J.S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Nelson is a professor emerita of English at the University of Connecticut; founder and director of Soul Mountain Retreat, a small writers’ colony; and the former (2001-2006) Poet Laureate of the State of Connecticut.

Nelson was a visiting writer at the winter residency of the Stonecoast MFA program when she gave this reading in January 2009.

Marilyn Nelson [ 41:23 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (3746)

“Weaving History and Literature: the African American Oral and Written Tradition” brought five writers together to read from their work and discuss how African American history is revealed through storytelling and literature. The speakers were JerriAnne Boggis, founder and director of the Harriet Wilson Project; Kate Clifford Larson, biographer of Harriet Tubman; novelists Michael C. White and David Anthony Durham; and poet Patricia Smith. Biographies of the speakers are available here; download the walking tour map of the Portland Freedom Trail in PDF format here.

This event was held at the Portland Museum of Art on July 11, 2008. We welcome your feedback.

Portland Freedom Trail [ 1:29:23 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (5737)

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? [ 31:45 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4091)