Adult Program Schedule
Download a Festival Schedule at a Glance (PDF)
Saturday, June 23, 2007 (Stay tuned for the 2008 program schedule!)
9:30 am- |
Portland Public Library, Portland Room Abraham A. Schechter, Special Collections Librarian, will be restoring books and maps and answering conservation questions.
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9:30 am |
Maine Public Library, Rines Auditorium Lost on a Mountain in Maine When Donn Fendler was 12-years-old, he survived two weeks lost and alone on Mt. Katahdin . Lost on a Mountain in Maine, the book chronicling this experience, has become a Maine classic. Fendler will discuss his famous experience and present a short video made the day after he emerged from the woods.
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9:30 am |
Maine Historical Society Terrorism: How did we get here and what can we all do about? How did the greatest nation on earth get to the point where 'Hope is a Method’? How is it that more of us vote for an American Idol than vote for a President? Are we going to have to suffer another attack to finally see that we are in a Holy War? Colonel David Hunt (On the Hunt: How to Wake Up Washington and Win the War on Terrorism) will discuss America’s future in Iraq and the war on terrorism.
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9:30 am |
Portland Public Library, Room 316 It’s a Mystery to Me Three of Maine’s well known mystery writers—Kate Clarke Flora (Finding Amy), Sarah Graves (Trap Door), and Dorothy Cannell ( WitheringHeights)—will discuss the evolution of an idea into a finished mystery book.
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10:45 am |
Portland Public Library, Rines Auditorium The Making of a Bestseller Can a publisher "make" a bestseller? What strategies work to make a book successful? Bestselling suspense writer Tess Gerritsen (The Mephisto Club) will speak about the mechanics of bestseller lists, and ways in which publishers can increase a book's sales, from cover design and marketing, to publicity and book tours.
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10:45 am |
Maine Historical Society “Through the Lighthouse Lens” In a multimedia presentation displaying extraordinary photographs and compelling journal entries, Lee Ann and Thomas Mark Szelog (Our Point of View: Fourteen Years at a Maine Lighthouse) will share the joys and surprises of their fourteen years of residing in the keeper's house at Marshall Point Lighthouse in Port Clyde, Maine. (Presented by Downeast Books.)
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10:45 am |
Portland Public Library, Room 316 Maine Arts Commission Fellowship Winners Read Colin Sargent (We've Got to Make It Look like an Accident), the 2004 Maine Arts Commission Fellowship awardee in the literary arts and Christine Parrish (Off the Wall: On the Street in China), 2006 awardee, will present readings from a new poetry manuscript and travelogue respectively. (Presented by the Maine Arts Commission.)
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Noon |
Portland Public Library, Rines Auditorium The Voice of Memoir The writer intent on memoir must come to terms with the way time lives in memory: its significance is often deeply personal, and quite distinct from strict clock-time of actual events. In memory, things are forgotten, and moments can expand and become conflated with other, sometimes seemingly random, moments. Where does the truth lie? How can a writer fully convey the texture and complexity of remembered time? In this hour Jane Brox (Here and Nowhere Else: Late Seasons of a Farm and Its Family) will read from her work and talk about her own efforts to convey the richness of the past on the page. There will be time for questions and discussion.
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Noon |
Maine Historical Society Screenwriting: Behind the Scenes Philip Jayson Lasker —who has written jokes (for Bob Hope), produced for television (The Golden Girls) and written for film (The Man from Elysian Fields)—will discuss The Biz, the art of screen writing, and what Mick Jagger is really like.
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Noon |
Portland Public Library, Room 316 A Panel on Writing for Young Adults A nonfiction writer, two novelists, and a poet (Sarah Thomson, Phillip Hoose, Maria Testa, and Jennifer Richard Jacobson) will discuss writing for and about teens.
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1:45 pm |
Portland Public Library, Rines Auditorium To Find a Mocking Bird Charles J. Shields spent four years researching and writing Mockingbird. For Mockingbird, he interviewed over 600 of Harper Lee’s neighbors, childhood friends, law school classmates, and Kansas residents who became her friends while she was helping Truman Capote research In Cold Blood in Kansas. As a result of Shields’ research into Truman Capote’s papers, the papers of Harper Lee’s agent, and the archives in the courthouse and historical museum in Lee’s hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, information never before known appears in this insightful portrait of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, who stopped giving interviews in 1964. From her beginnings as an Alabama tomboy, to her novel’s beginnings as a handful of stories, to a rough draft called Atticus, to its present form as one of the most popular books of the 20 th century, the story of To Kill a Mockingbird and its author is told here by Shields for the first time.
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1:45 pm |
Maine Historical Society Continental Liar from the Stateof Maine: James G. Blaine Neil Rolde will be reading excerpts and discussing the writing of the first biography in more than 70 years of Maine's master politician of the late nineteenth century, James G. Blaine. (Presented by Tilbury House Publishers.)
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1:45 pm |
Portland Public Library, Room 316 Manly Poems from the Men of Moon Pie Press Entertaining thoughts of cars, women, and other wild rides, poets Jay Davis, Michael Macklin, and David Moreau will read from their work. (Presented by Moon Pie Press.) |
1:45 pm |
Whitney Art Works, 492 Congress Street Dig: A Journey from Biddeford to Beijing A reading by actor/playwright Daniel Noel of Aaron T. Stephan’s Dig: A Journey from Biddeford to Beijing . (Presented by Whitney Art Works.)
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3 pm |
Portland Public Library, Rines Auditorium L.L. Bean: The Making of an American Icon Leon Gorman (L.L. Bean: The Making of an American Icon), grandson of the famous Freeport institution’s founder Leon L. Bean, will offer the first authoritative, true-to-life account of the iconic retailer and its colorful history and culture. He will discuss his decision to write the book and will highlight some of the behind-the-scenes struggles to preserve the historic identity of L.L.Bean while also opening the door to needed change.
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3 pm |
Maine Historical Society A Panel Discussion of the Modern Comic Strip The state of the modern newspaper comic strip, as well as the impact of the internet on modern cartooning, will be the focus of this conversation with cartoonists Lincoln Peirce (Big Nate),Wiley Miller (Non Sequitur), and Corey Pandolph (Barkeater Lake). (Presented by Casablanca Comics.)
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3 pm |
Portland Public Library, Room 316 Today’s Romance Novel —Not Your Mother’s Romance A recent article in the New York Times cited romance as the one area of publishing where market research truly exists. Diane Amos (Outlaw Hearts), Kelly McClymer (Salem Witch Tryouts), and Susan Vaughan (Deadly Memories) will discuss trends in romance and other aspects of romance writing. The program will be moderated by Michelle Libby.
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3 pm |
Maine College of Art, Room 207 Philip Isaacson Lecture Philip Isaacson, an art reviewer for the Maine Sunday Telegram, delivers a lecture in conjunction with the Leonard Baskin exhibition on view in the Joanne Waxman Library. |
6 pm |
Northstar Café, 225 Congress Street Maine Reads –Youth Speaks This two part performance will feature students from the 2007 Poetry Out Loud Competition followed by those from a North East Regional Poetry Slam. (Presented by Port Veritas.) Maine Reads – Youth Speaks I This performance will feature students from the 2007 Poetry Out Loud Competition (POL). POL is a national recitation competition sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. This competition focuses on the art of performance poetry in its various forms. Several students from around the state will be reciting classical and modern poems prepared specifically for competition. Maine Reads – Youth Speaks II Part two will feature the competitive art of Poetry Slam. The Slammers competing will consist of five invited guests and ten walk-in entries. Walk-in entries are open to anyone; however, they are assigned on a first-come, first-serve basis. Five members of the audience will be selected as judges, but ALL audience members are encouraged to participate in the general rabble for which slam is so well known.
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Sunday, June 24
11:30 am |
Maine Historical Society “My Life as a Poet” In this multimedia memoir, Wes McNair will reveal the twists and turns that led to his development as a poet. He will share early photos, letters from mentors, and drafts of manuscripts for an inspirational presentation. Slides for his talk were scanned from the Wesley McNair Papers, recently purchased by Colby College. |
11:30 am |
Community TV Mysteriously Yours The best-selling author Julia Spencer-Fleming (All Mortal Flesh) will discuss the hows and whys of writing her award-winning mystery series. |
1:15 pm |
Maine Historical Society A Reading with Maxine Kumin Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Maxine Kumin will read from her latest collection of poems Still to Mow. |
1:15 pm |
Community TV The Thriller Writers A reading by Elizabeth Hand (Generation Loss, Saffron & Brimstone) will be followed by a discussion with Patrick Quinlan (Smoked, the Takedown), who will share humorous stories from his life and experiences as a writer. |
1:15 pm |
Maine College of Art, Room 207 Knit Right/Knit Write: A Visit with Two Knitting Authors Authors and knitters Jil Eaton (Minnowknits) and Robin Hansen (Knit Mittens, Favorite Mittens) will show and talk about how knitting projects become books and discuss the current knitting craze. |
2:30 pm |
Maine Historical Society Poetry Reading by the Women of Alice James’ Books Readings by poets of Alice James’ Books: Linnea Johnson (The Chicago Home), and Nancy Lagomarsino (The Secretary of Parables). (Presented by Alice James Books.) |
2:30 pm |
Community TV The Rules of the Playground Playwright Carolyn Gage will introduce a live performance of her electrifying anti-war play about women and their protection of men. Six mothers of middle-school children come together for a special training on playground violence. Focusing on perfecting the rules of the playground to eliminate inequality, the women, turn a blind eye to the real cause of violence. A project of the Center for Ethics in Action, the play offers a chilling interrogation into the ways women teach each other to enable male violence. |
2:30 pm |
Maine College of Art, Room 207 Dragons & Beyond: The Many Realms of Fantasy Through the ages, from Beowulf to Tolkien, fantasy has brimmed with archetypes, poetry, myth, and magic – traditions that are carried on, and reinvented, in contemporary literature. Join four practitioners of fantastic literature —James A. Hetley (The Summer Country), Noreen Doyle (The Mammoth Book of Egyptian Whodunnits), Karen Jordan Allen (The First Heroes: New Tales of the Bronze Age), Kristen Britain (The High King’s Tomb) —for a discussion of this popular genre, their own diverse approaches to writing it, and why it has captivated audiences for centuries. |
4:30 pm |
Portland Stage Company 25A Forest Ave. Longfellow’s Short Reading by Four Local Novelists Partake in the Festival’s grand finale with dramatic readings of fiction by Maine authors Monica Wood (Any Bitter Thing), Lewis Robinson (Officer Friendly and Other Stories), Peter Behrens (The Law of Dreams), and Lisa Carey (Every Visible Thing). Join the authors and Portland Stage Company’s Affiliate Artists for staged readings, commentary, and questions. (Presented by Portland Stage Company.) |
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Ask the Author
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Leonard Baskin and The Gehenna Press: Selections 1996-2006
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Maine Festival of the Book: Original Illustrations
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“The Story House Project”
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The PortCon Anime Manga Convention
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Save the date! |
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