Neil Rolde

Neil Rolde's 2006 book, Continental Liar from the State of Maine, is a biography of James G. Blaine, the Maine politician who dominated the American political stage from just before the Civil War and almost until the twentieth century. A former Maine politician himself, Rolde is a prize-winning historian and author of Unsettled Past, Unsettled Future: The Story of Maine Indians; The Interrupted Forest: A History of Maine's Wildlands; Maine, Down East and Different; and many other books. A former Board member of the Maine Humanities Council, and won the Constance H. Carlson Public Humanities Prize in 2005.

Feel free to leave your thoughts on Rolde's book as a comment on this blog post. Thanks!

Jeff Shaara

The Steel Wave is the second novel in what will be a trilogy of World War II stories by Jeff Shaara, who has also written about the Civil War, the American Revolution, the Mexican War, and the first World War. Shaara is the son of the late Michael Shaara, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Killer Angels, and got his start as a novelist when he was asked to write both a sequel and a prequel to his father's bestseller.

Please leave your feedback on this Brown Bag Lecture from the Portland Public Library here.

Shara McCallum

Shara McCallum is the author of two poetry collections, The Water Between Us (University of Pittsburgh, 1999, winner of the 1998 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize) and Song of Thieves (University of Pittsburgh, 2003). McCallum was born in Jamaica, where she lived until she was nine with Afro-Jamaican and Venezuelan parents. She directs the Stadler Center for Poetry at Bucknell University. Here, she is introduced by fellow poet Charles Martin.

McCallum's reading took place in Freeport during the winter residency of the Stonecoast MFA program in January, 2008. This is the last recording from the winter residency that we will post. (The summer residency is less than one month away!) We'd love to hear what you thought of this series of podcasts, and whether or not you're interested in hearing more from Stonecoast writers.

Lewis Robinson

Lewis Robinson is the author of Officer Friendly and Other Stories and the forthcoming novel Water Dogs, due out from Random House in January 2009. A graduate of Middlebury College and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he is the winner of a Whiting Writers’ Award and a PEN/Oakland-Josephine Miles Award. Here, he is introduced by fellow fiction faculty member Lesléa Newman.

Robinson's reading took place in Freeport during the winter residency of the Stonecoast MFA program in January, 2008.

Ashley Bryan

This interview with Ashley Bryan by Charlotte Albright was included on the Council’s 30th Anniversary CD, “Maine Writers Speak.”

Born and raised in New York City, Ashley Bryan has found a home in Maine. Folklorist, writer, illustrator and performer, Bryan draws on African myths and tales, his own and others’ experience, and his literary, artistic and thespian talents to create children’s books (enjoyed by adults, too) and storytellings in schools and other venues, sometimes under the auspices of the Maine Humanities Council. (Read about his appearance at the 2005 Born to Read conference here.) Bryan’s newest book is Let it Shine: Three Favorite Spirituals (Simon and Schuster, 2007).

You can leave your feedback in the comments section, below.

Amy Hand

Amy Hand is the children's librarian at the Camden Public Library. In April, 2008, she read aloud from some of her favorite children's books for Humanities on Demand. She also shared some songs and rhymes that go along with the books.

We hope you can find some children or grandchildren to listen with you, then let us know what they think!

Jody Fein

Storyteller Jody Fein visited the East End Community School in Portland on May 15, 2008, to tell stories to the Kindergarten, 1st Grade, and 2nd Grade. She selected the stories "Abiyoyo," "Stone Soup," and "The Wind and the Sun," all of which tie into the Born to Read initiative Peaceable Stories. This event was part of the Maine Festival of the Book. Audio recordings of other Festival events are on the MPBN website.