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One of Barakat’s home-based literacy groups for
young women in Afghanistan
Program on the Work of Barakat
On Wednesday, May 14, at 7 p.m. at Skidompha Library in
Damariscotta, Damon Luloff of Barakat, a nonprofit based in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, will present a program on his organization’s work to
support educational opportunities for women and children in rug-weaving
villages in Afghanistan, India and Pakistan.
Barakat, which roughly translates as
“blessings” in Arabic, Turkic and Persian, works with local
organizations in rug-weaving communities to build, staff and sustain
schools. These programs, which include 26 home-based literacy groups for
young women in Afghanistan, involve more than 3,000 women and children.
Barakat also partners with local groups in these
communities to improve access to health care and clean drinking water.
Barakat is supported in part by donations from rug dealers in the United
States who market rugs from the villages. Luloff will show slides of the
people and communities where Barakat has made a difference and report on a
recent trip to Afghanistan by Barakat staff. A discussion will follow the
presentation.
The program is presented by CONA, Citizens Offering New
Alternatives, a local nonprofit organization which sponsors monthly
programs on topics related to peace, justice and the environment. For more
information, see CONA’s Web site www.conamaine.com.
Five Poets to Read Works at Scoops
Five local poets will read selections old and new from
4 to 6 p.m. on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 11, at Scoops Ice Cream
& Crepes, 35 Main Street, Belfast. Books will be available for sale and
signing by the authors.
Joyce Pye, author and poet, has written essays,
historical articles and the book Ireland’s
Musical Instrument Makers. Her poetry has
appeared in two anthologies, A Sense of Place:
Collected Maine Poems and Coming Home Twice, and the chapbook If He Could See Me Now, released
in 2006.
Bruce Spang, an editor for The Cafe Review in Portland,
recently published To the Promised Land Grocery, from the Moon Pie Press. His previous work has appeared in
numerous literary publications and includes the collection The Knot and the chapbooks The End of Time and Once the First Berries Dissolve.
He currently teaches creative writing and American literature at
Scarborough High School.
Barbara Maria, whose first book of poems, Crossing Time, was well received,
has a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Vermont College. In
private workshops and at schools and colleges throughout New England, she
has helped both adolescents and adults develop their poetic voices. She
will read from her new book, Palace Boulevard.
Nancy Carey has been writing poetry since the age of 20
and is the author of the novella The Haunting of
Carlo Lucci. She won second prize in the
professional poet category in the recent Love Letters to the World contest
held in Belfast to raise money for the Interfaith Fuel Fund.
Karin Spitfire, who teaches a wide variety of
integrative body-mind workshops and classes on work with the body and
trauma, is the author of numerous performance poems, including
“Incest: It’s All Relative” and “Wild Card
Anatomy.” Her book Standing with Trees won an honorable mention in the Maine Writers and
Publishers Literary Awards for 2008. She is the current poet laureate of
Belfast.
In addition to the scheduled readers, there will be an
open mic session and an intermission. For more information, contact Carey
at mimcarey@yahoo.com or 338-5952 after noon.
Head of Rockland Library to Become Director of Camden
Public Library
Left to right, Nikki Maounis, Elizabeth Moran and
Jamie Ritter. Maounis has been appointed the new director of the Camden
Public Library, Moran is the outgoing director, and Ritter is the new
deputy director.
The trustees of the Camden Public Library recently
appointed Nikki Maounis library director. On June 9, she will succeed
Elizabeth Moran, director for the last 20 years, who is retiring. The board
also elected James E. Ritter deputy director. Ritter will focus on
development and technology advancement.
For the last eight years Maounis has been the director
of the Rockland Public Library. When she arrived in 2000 she helped guide
the staff through a building addition and renovations that increased
useable library space by 10,000 feet. The Rockland Library has become one
of the 10 busiest public libraries in the state.
Maounis is the past president of the Maine Library
Association. Before moving to Rockland she was the assistant director and
children’s librarian at the Camas Public Library in Washington State.
While there she helped plan and implement an $8,000,000 building program.
Maounis began her career as a library specialist for young people’s
services and library assistant at the Berkeley Public Library, Berkeley,
California.
She says, “I have been involved with libraries
all my adult life and understand that if you want to keep up with the rapid
pace of change in our field, you need to keep learning and adapting.
Successful public libraries are an integral part of their
communities’ quality of life.”
Ritter will oversee all development activities,
including database management. He will serve as a liaison for community
events and library outreach to the community and will assist in
implementing an improved technology plan.
Ritter had a long career with MBNA as vice president of
administration and community relations. Most recently he was a senior vice
president at Camden National Corporation for marketing and strategic
planning. He is currently vice chair of the Maine Library Commission.
Jeff Colquhoun, president of the library’s board
of directors, says, “We are very pleased that Nikki has come to the
Camden Public Library. Elizabeth Moran, who will retire this summer after
20 years of excellent leadership as director, has helped the library become
a vibrant community center for literature, learning, community forums and
cultural events. We believe that Nikki has the demonstrated skills to
continue the development and management of our library, maintaining all of
the important traditional services, and expanding the use of modern
library technology to enable increased access to new information services
and cultural resources for our patrons of all ages. Jamie Ritter as deputy
director adds great strength to the management team Nikki will put in place
in all departments.”
Festival of the Book
The second annual Maine Festival of the Book will take place in and
around Portland May 15 to 17. It is
presented by Maine Reads and is chaired by First Lady Karen M. Baldacci.
All events, with the exception of Opening Night on Thursday, May 15, at Merrill Auditorium, are free.
Opening Night will feature David Baldacci, bestselling author of Stone Cold, poet Annie Finch and performer Michael Maglaras. Tickets are $50 per person (available by calling 871-9100) to attend
the A Reception with the Authors party,
and $10 per person
(available through PortTix and the box office) to attend the program in the auditorium that follows.
All other programs will be held May 16 through 17 at Monument Square, the Portland Public Library, Maine Historical Society and other venues. Books will be for sale on the square, and more than 40 authors will be available for signings.
Children’s events will include the opportunity to
meet many of their favorite authors, performers and storytellers under the
big tent on Monument Square and in the Portland Public Library’s
children’s room.
Other scheduled events include panel discussions,
writing workshops, mystery, maritime fiction, nonfiction and young adult
fiction. At Portland Stage Company, the Theatre of the Unexpected will
feature work of emerging playwrights throughout the weekend.
Authors will be speaking throughout Friday and Saturday about their craft. Most of the presenting authors will be discussing and reading from books just released. Elizabeth Strout, bestselling author of Amy and Isabelle, has a new book out, and Portland’s own Amy Sutherland will be reading from her new book, What Shamu Taught Me about Love, Marriage and Life. Author Crystal Zevon will read from her 2007 critically acclaimed biography of her former
husband Warren Zevon.
For more information, visit www.mainereads.org or call
871-9100.
2008 Maine Literary Award Winners
Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance announces the
winners of the 2008 Maine Literary Awards. These awards recognize
Maine’s literary talent and include honors for published and
unpublished writing.
2008 Maine Literary Award Winners: Published books,
fiction: Eleanor Lincoln Morse, Portland, An
Unexpected Forest. Published books, nonfiction:
Meredith Hall, Pownal, Without a Map; honorable mentions, Jaed Coffin, Brunswick, A Chant to Soothe Wild Elephants;
Carl Little, Mount Desert, Paintings of Maine; and Robin Bowman, North Yarmouth, It’s Complicated. Published books,
poetry: Henry Braun, Weld, Loyalty; honorable mentions, Alice James Books, Farmington, for Cole
Swensen’s The Glass Age; Stuart Kestenbaum, Deer Isle, Prayers
& Run-On Sentences; and Jeffrey Thomson,
Farmington, Celestial Emporium. Published books, Maine-themed: Down East Books, Rockport, for
Thomas Mark and Lee Ann Szelog’s Our Point
of View — Fourteen Years at a Maine Lighthouse; honorable mentions, Down East Books for Cynthia Finnemore
Simonds’ Superb Maine Soups; and Down East Books for The
Story of Sugarloaf. Published Books,
self-published: Ken Nye, Freeport, From the
Heart; honorable mentions, Karin Spitfire,
Belfast, Standing with Trees; and Sherri Eldridge, Salsbury Cove, New
England Summertime Cooking. Published Books,
children’s/young adult: Carrie Jones, Ellsworth, Tips on Having a Gay (ex) Boyfriend;
honorable mentions, Sandra Dutton, Boothbay Harbor, Dear Miss Perfect; and Down East Books
for Karel Hayes’ The Winter Visitor. Unpublished, adult fiction: Joan Dempsey, New Gloucester, Leaving the Ledges; honorable
mentions, Sandell Morse, York, Last-Minute Car, and Sherry Pineau, Fairfield, Sand. Unpublished, adult nonfiction: Fritz Burke, Appleton, Badrobbins. Unpublished, adult
poetry: Martin Steingesser, Portland, “Compline”; honorable
mentions, Sarah Goodman, Peaks Island, “They Call it
Moonshine”; Robert Chute, Brunswick, “Crows”; and Maureen
Ann Connolly, Cumberland Foreside, “Fifth Avenue Shoe.”
Unpublished, youth/high school fiction:Kelly Robinson, Scarborough, Ketamine. Unpublished, youth/high
school nonfiction: Jennifer Marie Mills, Scarborough, Memoir. Unpublished, youth/high school
poetry: Amelia Nielson, Edgecomb, “Where I’m From”;
honorable mentions, Kirsten Lie-Nielsen, Waldoboro, “Glitter and
Glamour”; and Goran Johanson, Edgecomb, “What’s in my
Journal.”
Spanish Immersion at Penobscot School
Spanish teacher Billy Smith
A weekend of immersion in all things Spanish at
Rockland’s Penobscot School on May 16 to 18 is designed to provide
“preparation for a real immersion in another culture,” says
instructor Billy Smith.
Smith is a certified, trained instructor as well as the
product of a half-Anglo, half-Spanish family. One half was “a
gigantic family in the Caribbean” where Spanish was the first
language. Smith has been speaking Spanish for decades and teaching at
Penobscot School since the 1980s.
His approach is a bit different than most: he thinks
it’s a benefit for students to have English in their heads.
“Adults have an advantage when learning a language,” says
Smith. “Although they are not hardwired for language learning as
children are, they already have a language in their heads, they already
understand a language.”
Participants in the immersion will be discouraged from
speaking English during the weekend. If they are unable to say exactly what
they wish to say, they will be encouraged to find some other way to
communicate their thoughts in Spanish. The weekend is not designed for
people with no knowledge of Spanish, so participants “should be
comfortable with basic pronouns and the present tense of verbs,”
Smith says.
The weekend immersion will be held from 5 p.m. on
Friday to 2 p.m. on Sunday, and includes six meals.
Penobscot School is a nonprofit educational institution
devoted to language learning. The fee for the immersion weekend is $225;
accommodations are separate. For more information on the immersion or
accommodations, contact the school at 594-1048.
The Free Press Bookshelf
The reading corner recommends . . .
A healing Touch: True Stories of Life, Death, and
Hospice,
edited by Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
of Empire Falls,
with woodcuts by Siri Beckman
Russo and five other Maine writers offer intimate and moving stories about the loss of loved ones and the journeys taken by those left behind. The contributors — Russo, Gerry Boyle, Wesley
McNair, Susan Sterling, Bill Roorbach and Monica Wood — interviewed people connected to Hospice Volunteers of the Waterville Area and selected a story that spoke to them in a way they could best retell. Each story is different, yet each speaks to that core of humanity within us. General audiences will find this collection as remarkable as specific audiences will find it comforting. This little book is perfect to give or to keep.
Proceeds from the book go to support Hospice Volunteers
of the Waterville Area.
Mid-Coast Christian book & gifts mention its time
to . . .
“Honor thy father and thy mother: that your days
may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God gave you.” Ex. 20:
12.
It’s time to remember our mothers this Sunday.
Memories of our mothers are sometimes sweet, sometimes sad. For those who
are blessed to still have their mothers with them it’s often a time
to give them a special hug and find some way to please them by doing or
getting them something special.
Jesus is our example of how to honor our mother: As he
was dying on the cross he looked down at his mother in love and committed
her to his disciples’ care. Read about this tender moment in our
Savior’s life in John 19:26-27. How can we show any less love?
Mid-Coast Christian Book & Gift makes a special
effort to have cards, gifts, books, and Bibles available to help you make
Mother’s Day special. Come and see us.
Left Bank Books . . .
“The most remarkable thing about my mother is
that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers.
The original meal has never been found.”
— Calvin Trillin
Left Bank Books
21 E. Main Street, Searsport
Tel. 207-548-6400
leftbank@verizon.net
