Masha Hamilton

The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton is a tale about an American librarian, Fiona Sweeney, who leaves Brooklyn to work for a relief organization in Africa that sends books on the backs of camels to forgotten villages. Fiona’s intentions are entirely pure but, when the bookmobile causes a feud among the nomadic tribe it aims to help, she realizes her good deeds may come with a high price. Hamilton worked as a foreign correspondent for The Associated Press for five years in the Middle East, spent five years in Moscow where she was a correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, then traveled to Afghanistan as a freelance journalist. She currently lives with her family in Brooklyn. To donate books to the real camel bookmobile in northern Kenya, visit the Camel Book Drive.

This reading was part of the Portland Public Library’s Brown Bag Lecture Series, sponsored by Martin’s Point Health Care.

Please leave your questions and comments here.

Wesley McNair

The Council sponsored a poetry reading by Wesley McNair at the State Street Church in Portland during the Fall of 2002. He was introduced by fellow Maine writer Cathie Pelletier. McNair has a long-standing relationship with the Council. He has led workshops for Maine teachers about using poetry in the classroom, designed a poetry series for the Let’s Talk About It program, and granted an interview for our Fall 2001 newsletter.

Whether you saw the reading live or heard it for the first time on the podcast, please leave a comment below to let us know what you thought.

Have you attended other Council events that you'd like to see on this podcast? Feel free to post suggestions! We might be able to locate recordings in our archives.

Richard Russo

Richard Russo retired early from Colby College in order to write full-time. He has set several novels in New York and Pennsylvania, but given his fascination with decaying towns and their struggling inhabitants, he was bound to write of a Maine mill town sooner or later. Empire Falls (Knopf, 2001) won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize. It was followed by The Whore’s Child and Other Stories (Knopf, 2002).

This interview with Richard Russo by Charlotte Albright was included on the Council’s 30th Anniversary CD, ‘Maine Writers Speak.’

Please leave a comment here to share your thoughts on this interview.

Monica Wood

Monica Wood learned her craft early, growing up in a family of Irish Canadian storytellers and ballad singers in Mexico, Maine. Her short stories and novels are well known; the latest is Any Bitter Thing (Chronicle, 2005). She also writes for writers, on her website and in works like The Pocket Muse (F & W Publications, 2006). “The best advice I have for aspiring writers is to read, read, read. Read everybody.”

This interview with Monica Wood by Charlotte Albright was included on the Council’s 30th Anniversary CD, ‘Maine Writers Speak.’

Leave your comments on this interview here.

Cathie Pelletier

Now living in Tennessee, Cathie Pelletier remains a very Maine writer. Born here and educated at the University of Maine, she speaks in her novels, including most recently Running the Bulls (University Press of New England, 2005) of northern Maine. Pelletier also writes screenplays, poetry, and short stories. Writing as K. C. McKinnon, she has produced some of her most popular work, notably Dancing at the Harvest Moon (Doubleday, 1997).

This interview with Cathie Pelletier by Charlotte Albright was included on the Council’s 30th Anniversary CD, ‘Maine Writers Speak.’

Please add a comment to let us know what you thought of this interview!

Meredith Hall

Meredith Hall graduated from Bowdoin College at age forty-four and wrote her first piece, “Killing Chickens,” in 2002. Two years later, she won the $50,000 Gift of Freedom Award from A Room of Her Own Foundation [link to http://www.aroomofherownfoundation.org/]. Her other honors include a Pushcart Prize and “notable essay” recognition in Best American Essays; she was also a finalist for the Rona Jaffe Award. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Creative Nonfiction, the Southern Review, Five Points, Prairie Schooner, and several anthologies. She teaches writing at the University of New Hampshire and lives in Pownal, Maine. Without A Map: A Memoir is her first book.

This reading was part of the Portland Public Library’s Brown Bag Lecture Series, sponsored by Martin’s Point Health Care.

Please add your thoughts and feedback!

Eric B. Martin

Eric B. Martin wrote The Virgin’s Guide to Mexico from 2001-2006 in Mexico City and California. Raised in Maine, he was educated in Austin, Durham, and Quito, Ecuador. He has worked on vineyards, beer trucks, tobacco fields, and in homeless shelters. The recent recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, he is the author of the novels Luck and Winners, which was a finalist for the Northern California Book Award. He lives in San Francisco on the corner of Mission and Cesar Chavez.

This reading was part of the Portland Public Library’s Brown Bag Lecture Series, sponsored by Martin’s Point Health Care.

You can share your thoughts on this podcast recording by adding a comment to this blog post.