I am considering how much things stay the same even as they change—and for those of you who read Joshua Bodwell’s shout-out about the new grandbaby (mine, not his), nope, not going there. This is about the distance thing, the Bangor/North thing, and the written word. Bangor/North covers a lot of miles, and a relatively small number of people for those miles, and so it creates these pockets that defy boundaries and categories, places in which there’s never a reading that’s within what might be considered reasonable driving distance (not to be confused with the distances I will drive for one).

Without the Bangor Public Library, there wouldn’t even be a reading in the area’s biggest city (population 30,000; next biggest Presque Isle at about 10,000). And so I’ll start with a huge thanks (picture standing-O on the page here) to its librarian-in-chief, Barbara McDade, for all she does to make sure that authors and live readings can be a regular part of everyone’s life if you want it to be. 

In recent months, the Bangor Public Library has been host to readings and discussions by the following writers: Tim Caverly (Wilderness Wildlife and Allagash Tales), Janet Chapman (New York Times bestselling romance writer of the Midnight Bay series), Ardeana Hamlin (Abbott’s Reach, a sequel to her novel Pink Chimneys, set in 19th-century Bangor), Carolyn Locke (Always This Falling), Dave Morrison (Clubland), Dan Harrington (Who’s at the Door? A Memoir of Me and the Missionaries), Angela Nickerson (Hector), Allen S. “Chip” Teel, MD (Alone and Invisible: Averting Disaster in Aging America), and Matthew Kiell (Monhegan Windows).

BPL is also the organizing arm of the Bangor Book Festival, in the works for its fifth year, with, for the first time, active support from MWPA. I am looking forward to what that will mean. The first year of the festival, it took to the streets with writers reading all over town in restaurants and bookstores, on the stage of the Penobscot Theatre, at the library. In subsequent years, the activities have all occurred in the library itself. No matter the location, the lineup has been impressive from year one.

Put it on the calendar: keynote address September 30 by Colin Woodard; and all other activities October 1, including readings and talks by Charlotte Agell, Dawn Potter, Dave Morrison, Ellen Booraem, Melissa Coleman, Anne Sibley O’Brien, Paul Doiron, and Susan Conley, among others.

Here’s where I get to the “stay the same” thing: If I want to hear an author read, I often drive a distance. Short of the BPL, I have to.

So if you find yourself looking to get in the car and light out in search of a literary adventure, head to Searsport and the amazing Left Bank Books. An architecturally compelling old brick building—a former bank—on a corner of the little downtown Main Street. You know it’s a beautiful space before you even open the door: the windows, the signage, all the details. It’s intimate, and every reading comes with delicate sherry glasses (with the sherry), and whatever strikes owners Marsha Kaplan, Lindsay McGuire, and Barbara Klausmeyer as the right munchy combo on the table. You can call ahead to reserve a seat (intimate, remember) or an autographed book if you can’t make it for the event.

Recently, the house was packed for the launch of the book Somalis in Maine: Crossing Cultural Currents, edited by Kimberly Huisman, Mazie Hough, Kristin Langellier, and Carol Nordstrom Toner, all of whom read from and spoke about the book, from its inception to its publication. It has been praised for its weaving of the actual voices of the people and their stories in the diaspora with the voices of social scientists. The academic and the personal sit at the same table, and have meaningful conversations on these pages.

Other recent readings at Left Bank included a reading by poets Bob Brooks (Unguarded Crossings), Ellen Goldsmith (Such Distances), and Kathleen Ellis (Narrow River to the North); and one by Linda and Martha Greenlaw (The Maine Summers Cookbook). Upcoming is a reading by Angus King at Searsport Town Hall from his new memoir, Governor’s Travels: How I Left Politics, Learned to Back up a Bus, and Found America, on July 27 at 7 p.m. Future Left Bank readings at the bookstore: On August 5 at 7 p.m., Jane McCloskey, daughter of Robert McCloskey ((Blueberries for Sal, Make Way for Ducklings) will read from her new book, Robert McCloskey: A Private Life in Words and Pictures; on August 26 at 11 a.m., Beth Gutcheon will talk about her work, including her most recent novels, Leeway Cottage and Goodbye and Amen; and sometime in September—date still to be determined—David McCullough will be signing his new history, The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris, 1830–1900.

And I can’t leave Left Bank without mentioning the amazing conversation a SRO crowd had with publisher David Godine a few months ago. So, put this little gem on your list.

Dawn Potter (How the Crimes Happened, from CavanKerry Press) may live in my sort-of backyard, but I drove to Damariscotta in a blinding rain for a reading by her and our former poet laureate Baron Wormser (Impenitent Notes, also from CavanKerry, a press with a great ear). And please note that if you don’t read these two poets, you are definitely the less for it.

The sweetest little book store on a side street in Orono, Front Porch Books hosted a reading by Kathleen Ellis from her new collection of poems, Narrow River to the North, with cellist Lisa Nielson. Other readers included Lisa Panepinto, Lisa Desrochers, Anthony Gray, Sarah Lingo, Aya Mares, Steve Martin, Davis McCarthy, and Steve Morin.

Bill Lippincott has shuttered the brick-and-mortar bookstore in Bangor that was the go-to place for so many readers in the area, but its life continues online. A final reading was the book launch party for Kathleen Ellis’s Narrow River to the North and included readings by Linda Buckmaster, Cheryl Daigle, Elizabeth Garber, Annaliese Jakimides, Megan London, Steve Martin, Lisa Panepinto, Bruce Pratt, Catherine Schmitt, and others.

Eastport’s Sarah Graves  is part of a new blog group (www.mainecrimewriters.com) which includes Kate Flora, Lea Wait, Paul Doiron, Gerry Boyle, Vicki Doudera, Julia Spencer-Fleming, Jim Hayman, Barbara Ross, and Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett.

Bangor Daily News columnist and editor Dana Wilde has published a collection of essays, The Other End of the Driveway, which includes essays from his column Amateur Naturalist.

Sheila Grant’s book, 50 Great New England Family Fishing Vacations, has just been published by North Country Press.

About five years ago, Gordon Cunningham launched an entertainment website, www.mainemusiciansexchange.org, and he’s looking for writers to create content for it, including reviews and features. If this is something that might fit in your writer toolkit, holler.

Nominated for a Pushcart Prize in fiction in 2008 and the recipient of many awards, including the Andre Dubus Award for short fiction, Bruce Pratt has published his first novel, The Serpents of Blissful. Also the Northern Writes New Play Festival, in its fifth year at the Penobscot Theatre in Bangor, showcased Pratt’s play Beaching.

Every year the Northern Writes New Play Festival has been an incredible event at the end of June, beginning of July—although I normally warm the seat almost every night for the duration, this year I had the grandbaby conflict, but others report it was a standout showing. In addition to Pratt and playwrights from Alabama, Kansas, Illinois, New York, Texas, California, and Massachusetts, other Maine writers featured were Allen Adams, Andrew Frodahl, and Mark Upton.

And here’s that geography thing again. Alice Bolstridge, the winner of the Maine Literary Award in the short works category for poetry this year, lives in Presque Isle, 300 miles from Portland, and so she didn’t attend this terrific event (good food, sweet company, plenty of opportunity to socialize, well-attended and well-organized, great work, and fun). A past finalist for the Pablo Neruda Poetry Prize and the winner of MWPA’s poetry contest in 2005, Bolstridge has had recent work published in The Café Review (in Portland, too, but the words can travel without the body, touch us from the page—how blessed we are).

“For years, they were telling me to play commercial, be commercial. I'm not commercial. I say, play your own way. You play what you want, and let the public pick up on what you were doing, even if it takes 15, 20 years.” —Thelonious Monk

Bangor North Network News is compiled by Annaliese Jakimides, whose work has been published in many journals and magazines, including Beloit Poetry Journal, The Utne Reader, and GQ Italy, and in anthologies such as This I Believe II: More Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women and About Face. Her work has been cited in national competitions and nominated for the Pushcart Prize, most recently for 2010. After 27 years on a dirt road in northern Maine, she now lives in downtown Bangor.

Please send your Bangor North literary news to Annaliese at: amamama@usa.net or at PO Box 741, Bangor, Maine 04402.

FICTION:

Shonna Milliken Humphrey Former Executive Director of MWPA, is celebrating the publication of her debut novel, Show Me Good Land, published by Down East Books. Friends partied with her at The Danforth in Portland.

Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award winner, Sarah Braunstein, discussed her book, The Sweet Relief of Missing Children, at Longfelllow Books in Portland. 

As part of the Maine Festival of the Book, actors at Portland Stage Company read from  Ron Currie’s novel, Everything Matters!.

The University of Southern Maine hosted author Lily King, reading from her most recently published novel, Father of the Rain. Lily has also published, The English Teacher and The Pleasing Rain.             

Deborah Gould appeared at Brunswick’s Curtis Memorial Library, reading from her novel, Household.         

Dennis A. Walch read from his book, The Greens of Maine, at the Walker Memorial Library in Westbrook.                                                               

MYSTERY:

Julia Spencer-Fleming’s One Was A Soldier, has been enjoying a good amount of exposure. Julia appeared at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke in Portland, where she read and signed copies of her latest book.

While she’s not from Southern Maine, I must give credit to Glenna Johnson Smith, who is enjoying the publication of her book, Old Maine Woman: Stories from the Coast to the Country. Falmouth Memorial Library hosted Glenna’s recent appearance. From there, she joined friends at Portland Public Library’s Brown Bag series and Longfellow Books in Portland for another reading. Would that Glenna bottled her energy and sold it along with her book.

POETRY:

Former poet laureate, Baron Wormser, read from his ninth book of poetry Impenitent Notes, at Longfellow Books in Portland.

The 4th Annual Poetry Festival at Merriconeag Waldorf School in Freeport featured Poet Laureate, Wes McNair, and high school finalists from: Aucocisco,Cheverus, Deering, Falmouth, Gorham, Merriconeag Waldorf, North Yarmoth Academy, Scarborough, Thornton Academy, and Yarmouth.

The ensemble of Martin Steingesser, Judy Tierney and cellist, Robin Jellis, presented Martin’s poems, The Thinking Heart: The Lives and Loves of Etty Hillesum, as part of Holocaust Remembrance Day at  First Parish Church in Portland.

NONFICTION:

Psychologist, Amy Wood, has published Life Your Way: Refresh Your Approach to Success and Breathe Easier in a Fast-Paced World through Modern Sage Press. She joined friends at Longfellow Books, Portland, to discuss and sign her book. FMI: amywoodpsyd.com.

Donna Towle signed her book, My Spiritual Guide for Souls, at Ave Maria Gift Shop.

William David Barry joined friends at Falmouth Memorial Library for a lunch-hour discussion of his book, Deering, a Social and Architechtural History.

Crash Barry and John McDonald teamed up at St. Lawrence Arts Center, Portland, for a reading entitled, Two Maines.

Penelope O’Sullivan presented a slide presentation to accompany her discussion of her book, The Pruning Answer Book, at Kennebooks, Kennebunk.

Children’s book author, Cynthia Furlong Reynolds, presented a talk entitled, “What Tools Do Writers Need?” at York Public Library.

Science journalist, Hannah Holmes, read from her most recent publication, Quirk: Brain Science of Your Peculiar Personality, at South Portland Public Library.

Tony Oppersdorff and Kyrill Schabert, authors of Best Nature Sites: Midcoast Maine Route 1 Corridor-Brunswick to Belfast, discussed these sites at Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick. They later joined friends at Crystal Spring Farm, in Brunswick for a nature walk and book signing.

Eugene Elcik, Lars Christensen and Clay Hurtubise, authors of the Lobsterman of Deep Cove, Maine, The Almost Always Audacious Adventures of Larry and Wuppy…the Easter Puppy, and Shaman: Devils’ Deal, appeared at Arby’s in Portland.

South Portland Police Officer, Steve Webster, has written and self-published a book of stories about his experiences on the force: One Promise Kept: The Case That Made a Cop and Others That Almost Broke Him.

Richard Crossley, signed his book, The Crossley ID Guide, at Freeport Wild Bird Supply.

Author and tarot practitioner, Jeanne Fiorini, discussed her book, Tarot Spreads and Layouts/A User’s Manual for Beginning and Intermediate Readers, at Borders Books and Music, South Portland.

Harrison Village Library hosted Ben Sprague, discussing his book, Buy, Hold, Sell: A Disciplined Guide to Investment Success.

Anne Serafin signed copies of African Women Writing, Resistance, Contemporary Voices at the Museum of African Culture in Portland.

CHILDREN’S LITERATURE:

Illustrator Jamie Hogan has written a children’s book, Seven Days of Daisy.

Jeannie Brett, illustrator of My Cat, Coon Cat, signed books at L.L.Bean in Freeport.

Portland author, Gail Donovan, brought a live bug zoo and bug games to Portland Public Library to celebrate the release of her children’s novel, What’s Bugging Baily Bleckher?

Longfellow Books in Portland hosted Lisa Jahn-Clough, reading from Felicity and Cordelia.

Author, Maria Padin, read from her latest book, Jersey Tomatoes Are the Best, at Longfellow Books in Portland. Illustrator, Charlotte Agell, joined her, signing copies of her book, The Accidental Misadventures of India McAllister.

Award-winning children’s author, Shirin Bridges, signed her book, The Thinking Girl’s Treasury of Real Princesses, at the University of Southern Maine bookstore.

YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE:

Juvenile and teen fiction authors, Maurissa Gilbord, Ellen Booraem, and Carrie Jones joined fans at Bull Moose in Scarborough. Maurissa read from her book, Warped; Ellen from Small Persons with Wings, and Carrie from Entice, the third in her Need series.

MEMOIR:

James Richardson appeared at Borders Books and Music in South Portland to sign his book, Standing on Two Feet.

Susan Conley discussed her memoir, The Foremost Good Fortune, at the Cancer Community Center in South Portland.

Longfellow Books in Portland hosted Melissa Coleman, reading from her memoir, This Life Is in Your Hands: One Dream, Sixty Acres and a Family Undone.

Hyperion/Voice has published Caitlin Shetterly’s Made For You and Me: Going West, Going Broke, Finding Home.

Susan Conley participated in Portland Public Library’s Brown Bag Lecture series, discussing and reading from her memoir, “The Foremost Good Fortune.”

My thanks to all who emailed information regarding their publications, book signings, and related celebrations. For those who have news they’d like to share, please contact me: cgentile@maine.rr.com.

“You can learn about the pine only from the pine, or about bamboo only from bamboo. When you see an object, you must leave your subjective preoccupation with yourself; otherwise you impose yourself on the object and do not learn. The object and yourself must become one, and from that feeling of oneness issues your poetry.” Basho

Beloit Poetry Journal poet Eduardo C. Corral, whose bilingual corrido “Variation on a Theme by Jose Montoya” appears in the Spring 2011 issue of the magazine, has been awarded this year’s Yale Younger Poets Prize. Mary Jo Thompson’s “Thirteen Months,” which appeared in the Winter 2010/2011 issue, will appear in The Best American Poetry 2011. 

The electrifying Summer  2011 issue of the BPJ includes poems by Fady Joudah,  Margaret Aho, Arthur Bull, Ranjani Neriya, Alex Quinlan, Gary Fincke, Nicelle Davis, Weston Cutter, Susan Tichy, and more, plus very contemporary sonnet sequences by Jenny Johnson and Tracy Zeman. The back-of-the-book symposium,“Gay Poetry, Politics, and Poetics,” with Jeff Crandall, Garth Greenwell, Peter Pereira, and Brian Teare ran through June on their Poet’s Forum, www.bpj.org. The fall issue will be devoted to a single long poem by Michael Brook called "The Logic of Yoo," which considers the moral logic of George W. Bush's legal counsel at the time prisoners were being tortured in Iraq (and the U.S.) as it reflects on the poem's protagonist, a graduate student who supplements his income by writing academic papers for hire.

Maine mystery writer Gerry Boyle is doing final corrections in page proofs for Port City Shakedown, his second crime novel in the Brandon Blake series. Shakedown will be published in September by Down East Books. It recounts the adventures of Blake as a rookie cop with the Portland P.D. As Gerry puts it, "This ain't your father's Portland, Maine." Gerry shot a promotional trailer for the book in Portland in late June. And he has a couple of appearances scheduled: Saturday, July 23, at the Rockland Lighthouse Museum, noon to 4 p.m., and Aug. 16 at the Wells Public Library, where his talk will begin at 6 p.m. Read the blog @ gerryboyle.com  Follow gerryboyle on Twitter

Sharon Bray, who had her poem, Maybe Tomorrow, published in the Uni-Verse section of the Bangor Daily News on June 13, wrote to report that The Salt Coast Sages, founded by Kelly Lombardi, started with 6 poets. Now they are 4. They lost Kelly in 2008. In May 2011, poet Philip Rose died in a vehicle collision in Belfast. He was also a sea captain who delivered yachts between New England and the Caribbean. He built his house at Starboard, out beyond Machiasport, to resemble the prow of a boat. Bowdoin graduate, retired English teacher, active in local education (Senior College) and town politics, Phil wrote especially eloquent poems about Maine life. His dialog poems captured conversations heard at local wharf and country store settings.

Poetry, barbeque, and the beach will all be part of the Sixth Annual Roque Bluffs Poetry Festival on July 30 in the Down East seaside town of Roque Bluffs, Maine. The festival will feature a day-long workshop led by a prizewinning poet, an outdoor barbeque supper with all the trimmings near the ocean in beautiful Roque Bluffs State Park, and an open-mic poetry reading in the evening. The workshop is open to all poets, including novices, and the supper and evening reading are open to the general public. Kirstin Hotelling Zona will conduct the workshop and lead off the reading. She is associate professor of English at Illinois State University, where the subjects she teaches include creative writing. She is also editor of the Spoon River Poetry Review and author of numerous published poems and essays on poetry. She grew up in Maine and now summers in Machiasport. Her poem “Riptide” won the Elizabeth Matchett Stover Prize in 2005. Other poems of hers have been contest finalists. A chapbook of her poems, selected in a contest, will be published later this year. University presses have published two books of hers, Marianne Moore, Elizabeth Bishop, and May Swenson: The Feminist Poetics of Self-Restraint, and a book she edited entitled Dear Elizabeth: Five Poems and Three Letters from May Swenson to Elizabeth Bishop. She also co-hosts a program called Poetry Radio on a station affiliated with NPR.

The special barbeque will be prepared by members of the Roque Bluffs Chapel in celebration of the chapel’s 110th anniversary. In the event of inclement weather the supper will be served in the chapel’s dining facility. Roque Bluffs is a few miles south of Machias in Washington County. The fee for all events at the festival will be $44; or for just the workshop, $35; or for just the supper, $9. Registration checks made out to the Salt Coast Sages, a poetry group that hosts the festival, may be sent to them at P.O. Box 263, Cutler, ME, 04626. For more information contact Gerald George at (207) 255-6800 or geraldwgeorge@msn.com.

WERU’s Writers Forum, hosted by Joan Clemons of Belfast, will introduce a different program format on Thursday, July 14. Instead of writer Gerald George reading his own work, actors will present a dramatic performance of two of George's one-act plays. The program airs from10-11 a.m. on community radio station WERU, and may also be heard streaming live at weru.org. 

Gerald (Jerry) George is the leader of the Downeast Salt Coast Sages poetry group. He has also published four books, as well as many articles and poems. He is on the Editorial Board of Off the Coast poetry magazine. In 2010, he was selected poet laureate of the Maine Senior College Network. George formally studied Japanese Noh Theatre, which inspired him to write plays combining elements of Noh with stories of Maine.

The first play, "Bailey's Mistake," to be presented was accepted by Acorn Productions of Portland, Maine, in a competition for the 2008 Maine Short Play Festival and was given four performances there. The second play, "The White Heron," borrows from two stories, "A White Heron" by Sarah Orne Jewett and "Feather Mantle," a 16th century Japanese Noh play of unknown authorship. Michael R. Brown, who directed the plays for this broadcast, has published four books of poetry. He has also been an editor, folk singer, actor, journalist, playwright, director, and an academic. Recently, Brown  has become affiliated with the Eastport Arts Center, Stage East, and the St. Croix Theatre Company. Other actors reading are Valerie Lawson, poet and Executive Director of the Eastport Arts Center, who has performed poetry for many years, and appeared in theatrical productions with Stage East Theater Company in Eastport; actor Greg Williams; and artist Dan Butler, who has been active in Eastport's community theater and is directing their production of Butterflies Are Free opening July 29.  Michael R. Brown will also be reading a part. WERU's Program and Operations Manager, Joel Mann, provided technical engineering expertise for this performance of "Writers Forum." "Writers Forum," focusing on writers who live in Maine or write about Maine, airs the second Thursday of every month from 10-11:00 a.m.  "Writers Forum" programs are available streaming live and podcast at weru.org. Past programs are also archived at weru.org. Writers who wish to appear on future "Writers Forum" programs should contact the station at writersforum@weru.org. 

Jean Davison writes that her fifth book, Mother of Fire: An Iraqi Woman’s Journey from Mosul to Malawi, has been published. It is a late 19th/early 20th century historical novel, based on a real person's life.

Sandy Cohen of the Deer Isle Writers Group writes to say there will be a reading by the Group’s members at the Brooklin Friends Library on July 28 from 7 to 8:30 p. m. Readers include Anne Burton, Sandy Cohen, Jean Davison, Nancy Hodermarsky, and Phil Schirmer. 

Linda Greenlaw, along with her mother, Martha Greenlaw, has just published a new cookbook, The Maine Summers Cookbook. They published Recipes from a Very Small Island in 2005. The new book celebrates summer with recipes for Strawberry-Mint Sparkling Lemonade, Grilled Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms, and Blackened Swordfish with Blueberry Chutney. The cooking duo’s essays, salted with Linda’s wit and seasoned with Martha’s wisdom, accompany the recipes. Island Readers and Writers held a culinary extravaganza and book signing, featuring Linda Greenlaw and Martha Greenlaw, at the Islesford Dock Restaurant on July 3. Recipes from their new book, The Maine Summers Cookbook, were part of the menu.  Afterwards, the authors signed copies of the book.

The IR&W will host a book party and author presentation at the Northeast Harbor Library on Sunday, July 24, from 4 to 6 p.m. The speaker will be Gary Schmidt, author of the newly published book, Okay for Now. Schmidt is a two-time winner of a Newbery Honor Award and has won a Printz Honor Award. 

Candi Joyce, the intrepid Swan’s Island librarian, writes to say the Library has a chapbook, published for their grand re-opening on July 7. It is entitled The Tarantula and includes the poem of the same name by Gary Rainford and a brief history of the Old Atlantic Schoolhouse, which was the home of the old library. Island Institute Fellow, Meghan Vigeant, in conjunction with the Swan’s Island Library, has published Guts, Feathers and All: Stories of Hard Work and Good Times on Swan’s Island, Maine.

From shearing a bucking ram to drag racing on curvy island roads, Island Institute fellow Meghan Vigeant reveals how Swan’s Islanders have approached life with a “guts, feathers and all” attitude, making the most of their limited resources and tapping into their creativity for both work and fun. Spanning over one hundred years, the stories in this collection connect us to the history of a Maine island and the humanity of its people. This book is a reminder of the importance of cherishing the ordinary people living extraordinary lives. To order a copy of the book, please call the Swan’s Island Educational Society at (207) 526-4330. The cost is $10 per book, plus $5 for shipping and handling. For more information about Guts, Feathers and All, or to schedule an interview with the author, please contact Meghan Vigeant at email mvigeant@islandinstitute.org

The Swan’s Island Library will hold a Book Bash on the island on July 16th, at 7 pm in the Odd Fellows Hall; it will include a live reading by community actors, a book auction of signed Swan's Island related books, a photo exhibit, and refreshments.

Carl Little has two poems in the spring edition of The Binnacle, the literary journal of the University of Maine at Machias. His interview with artist and poet Kate Cheney Chappell appears in Words & Images, published
by the University of Southern Maine. “Fairfield Porter and James Schuyler: Painting, Poetry and Passion on Great Spruce Head” is featured in The Island Journal. Little will be giving a slide talk on “Animals in Art” at the Wendell Gilley Museum in Southwest Harbor on August 11 as part of its 30th anniversary programming. His book on painter Eric Hopkins is due from Down East Books in late September.

Mark of the Golden Dragon, the ninth in Louis A. Meyer's Bloody Jack series, is set for release by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in late September 2011. The audio book, read by Katherine Kellgren, and issued by Listen and Live, will be released the following month.

Lou Meyer and his wife Annetje own and operate Clair de Loon at 75 Main Street, Bar Harbor. All of his autographed books along with limited edition prints of his paintings are available there or from clairdeloon.com and/or jackyfaber.com

The Monarch Review, Seattle's literary and arts magazine, will publish Jacqueline Michaud’s poem "Topical" in a forthcoming issue.  The Review can be read online at:  www.themonarchreview.org/.

Sandy Phippen’s book, Kitchen Boy is now available on Amazon Kindle, his first e-book. He is completing work this summer on his second novel, The Race Riots of Syracuse, and on his third book of short stories. He hopes they both will be published in the coming year. Phippen continues as editor of The Puckerbrush Review and will be publishing the next issue in the fall. He and his staff are currently reading through the many submissions. There's still time to submit. Sandy Phippen read at Verve, the new coffee house in Orono, in June. He will be speaking at the "Ruth Moore Celebration Week" at the Bass Harbor Library on Sunday, July 17 at 7 p.m. He will also be speaking/reading at the Surry Historical Society on July 18 at 6 p.m. This fall he will begin his 48th year of teaching English!

This summer, Phippen's University of Maine colleague, Judy Hakola, is using his book, High Clouds Soaring, Storms Driving Low: The Letters of Ruth Moore, in a four-week course on Moore. On Saturday, July 23, he will join several other Maine authors at the Mr. Paperback store for a group book signing in Ellsworth at the Maine Coast Mall. 

Gary Rainford reports that his poem, “Localvores,” appeared this spring in Red Line Blues, a literary journal published in Asheville, North Carolina, and Brooklyn, New York. “True Blue,” appeared in the Spring 2011 edition of The Island Reader, Vol. 6, published by Maine Sea Coast Mission. “Thunder Hole,” “No Rest for the Weary,” and “Clover,” are forthcoming this summer in Omphalos.

The Swan's Island Library bookstore is launching Old Atlantic Schoolhouse Press, a pilot publishing project. OASP is publishing The Tarantula, a poem he wrote about the library fire. He will read this poem at the grand opening on July 7. The Swan's Island Lecture Series will host his  poetry reading on July 19, and he will read again on August 19 with Don Junkins, a friend and fellow poet.

Norma Voorhees Sheard's, "Blackcaps," won first place in the General Federation of Woman's Clubs Creative Writing contest, recently. Her poem, "Green Yarn," was published in U.S. 1 Worksheets, issue #56. Also, her poem, "The Moment," will appear in the next issue of  The Patterson Literary Review. "April Rain," was published in the Narramissic Notebook, Issue 11.

Sheard's two short poems, "Cast Iron Stove" and "Evensong" appeared in the May 4th online issue of New Maine Times. Also, some of her haiku will appear in the upcoming Maine Haiku Anthology.

Sherman’s Books & Stationery in Bar Harbor is offering a full program of Summer book signings. The authors include James Kaiser on July 8; Jeannie Brett, July 9; Douglas Tallamy, July 12; Marian Hersrud, July 15; Kristen Britain, July 16; Ellen Prager, July 17; Ray Charbonneau, July 19 and October 15; Jennifer Jacobson, July 23; Sisters in Crime, July 28; Carolyn Cooke, July 30; Marcus Librizzi, August 4, September 11, October 9, and October 21; Ardeana Hamlin, August 6; Dan Burt, August 10 and August 27; Earle Shettleworth, Jr.,  August 13; Don Carrigan, August 26; and Philip Conklin, September 1. Please call the Bookstore at 288-3161 for more information.

David Nolf is the author of a book of poetry entitled Surviving the Raw and the Cooked. For more than a decade, he wrote the Down East Wine Companion, a wine column, for the Bar Harbor Times. He was also the English editor for a number of years of The Neva News, a newspaper in St. Petersburg, Russia. He now lives on Mount Desert Island, Maine.

Please send your literary news to David Nolf, P.O. Box 878, Mt. Desert, Maine 04660 or e-mail him at nolfdowneast@yahoo.com