BLUE HILL — Word, the literary arts festival slated for downtown Blue Hill Oct. 18-21, has opened registration for its paid workshops. The festival is offering twice as many workshops as it did in its debut last year, when classes were either at capacity or over-subscribed. The workshops are fully described at www.wordfestival.org, along with …
With Maine Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum Today’s poem is “Ode to Autumn” by Sally Bliumis-Dunn. Her poems have appeared in the Paris Review, Plume, Prairie Schooner, The Academy of American Poets’ “Poem-a-day,” and The Writer’s Almanac. “Ode to Autumn” is from her third full-length collection, “Echolocation,” which was published by Plume Editions, MadHat Press …
SULLIVAN — You are standing atop a mountain. A sweeping view of wooded islands unfolds below. A brisk breeze blows. Clouds race and billow up. Sailboats are trimmed close to the wind. The sea seems driven every which way. Spruce trees sway on the steep slope. That’s the scene Philip Frey conjures in his oil …
Smaller than your average coffee-table book, “Silly Seals” may be more appropriately scaled for an end table.
BLUE HILL — “Call Me American,” Abdi Nor Iftin’s story of his quest to emigrate from war-torn Somalia to Maine, caused a stir when it was published in June. Iftin will kick off this year’s Word literary arts festival Friday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m. in Emlen Hall on South Street. Brook Ewing Minner, host …
The sad-eyed shelter dog in the children’s book “Toby” (Candlewick Press, 2016, $16.99) is having trouble settling into his adoptive home.
Editor’s note: Brooklin author/photographer Richard J. Leighton creates the popular “In the Right Place” posts online about life and nature in Maine. He will share a post the second Thursday of each month in The Ellsworth American. The former Washington, D.C., trial lawyer and his architect wife, Barbara, summered in Brooklin for more than 25 …
STEUBEN — Abstract Expressionist painter Richard Kapral inhabits a storybook cottage — albeit one with a chandelier dripping with crystals. A narrow courtyard, buffering his house from the road, is filled with hostas. The lushly leafed shade plant is Kapral’s favorite perennial. He particularly likes a variety called “Sum and Substance.” Asiatic lilies, phlox and …
COREA — Don’t tell Dan Miller to retire. The printmaker and sculptor celebrated his 90th birthday this summer, but, beginning at 7 a.m. each day, he is most likely to be found carving wood in his Corea studio. A native of Brooksville, Pa., Miller also continues to work as an instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy …
PORTLAND — From Woolwich author Jennifer Richard Jacobson, who wrote the award-winning “Small as an Elephant” and “Paper Things,” comes “The Dollar Kids,” a heart-tugging novel for 10- to 14-year-olds about guilt and grief, family and friendship and, above all, community. The story is illustrated by the prize-winning comic book artist Ryan Andrews, who lives …
