Peaks Island Press
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A Path of Stars: Anne Sibley O’Brien contributes to “I’m Your Neighbor, Portland” City-wide Read
Anne Sibley O’Brien’s “A Path of Stars”
Stories build understanding.
Understanding builds neighborhoods.
Neighborhoods build a strong city.
Support the sharing of stories of Maine’s “new arrivals” and the cultural fabric of the City of Portland.
Peaks Island children’s book author/illustrator Anne Sibley O’Brien has made an important contribution to the upcoming city-wide read of books supported by the Maine Humanities Council called “I’m Your Neighbor, Portland.” When she’s not crossing the globe by plane to visit fans, crossing the harbor by ferry or the island by bicycle to go home, she’s adding to her impressive list of children’s book publications.
Mostly recently, Anne has authored “A Path of Stars” (Charlesbridge Publishing), the story of a Cambodian immigrant grandmother, Lok Yeay, who tells her granddaughter about her homeland and how her family would sit in their yard and watch the stars that glowed like fireflies. To write a picture book that captured the Cambodian American experience here in Maine, Anne explains,
“I started by reading every survivor memoir I could find, until the outline of life in Cambodia before 1975, the Killing Fields, the escape, and life in a new land became familiar. I talked with several scholars about trauma survival and the sociology of Cambodian Americans. Most significantly, I listened to my friends Veasna and Peng Kem, who spent hours sharing their own memories with me. Many of the details in this story come from their accounts, or were inspired by them.”
A Path of Stars has been named a Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People 2013 by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and the Children’s Book Council (CBC); it has also been named an Honor Picture Book of the Asian Pacific American Award for Literature 2013 based upon its literary and artistic merit, as selected by the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association.
Anne illustrated another one of the nine books chosen for this city-wide read: Moon Watchers, an inside view of daily life in a modern Muslim family during Ramadan. A launch event for the city-wide read of books set in Maine’s new arrival communities will occur on May 25th from 3-6 p.m. at the Portland Public Library.
Read, Speak, Listen: Island poetry event with Portland Poet Laureate Bruce Spang
National Poetry Month poster
Portland Poet Laureate Bruce Spang
The island poetry event will feature Portland Poet Laureate Bruce Spang. About poetry, Bruce Spang has said he liked how “a poem could encapsulate an experience, could traverse the landscape of my feelings and thought, going from the highs to lows, in a short compact form. It was a tiny epiphany, a way of seeing experience from a new lens.” Spang is author of To the Promised Land Grocery (Moon Pie Press, 2008), I Have Walked though Many Lives: Young Voices—Scarborough (Moon Pie, Press 2009), The Knot, (Snow Drift Press, 2005), and Tip End of Time (Snow Drift Press, 2004). In addition to being the city of Portland’s Poet Laureate, Spang is a facilitator for the Maine Humanity Council’s Let’s Talk About It poetry series.
Double event day for island authors Nash and Morse
It may be a 
small island and small literary community, but authors on Peaks Island make up for it with a flurry of activity. Tomorrow, April 8, 2013, two island authors will be involved in events – one on island and one off.
As published earlier, Scott Nash’s wildly popular The High Skies Adventures of Blue Jay the Pirate will be on stage at 7 p.m. on the mainland at Portland Stage Company. Come meet some dramatic renderings of Nash’s beloved avian characters. For more information see Affiliate Artists Events.
At the same time, island author Eleanor Morse will introduce award-winning writer, Lesléa Newman, at an event sponsored by the Peaks Island Branch of the Portland Public Library. Lesléa has written over 60 books, many of them for children and adolescents, including the children’s classic, Heather Has Two Mommies, the young adult novel, Jailbait, the middle grade novel, Hachiko Waits, and the adult poetry collection, Still Life with Buddy. Her latest book, October Mourning, is a cycle of poems about the death of Matthew Shepard, the gay twenty-one-year old University of Wyoming student who was lured from a bar by two young men, savagely beaten, tied to a fence on the outskirts of Laramie, and left to die. The book, a searing and beautiful tribute to Shepard, has recently been named an American Library Association 2013 Stonewall Honor Book. This event will be 7.00 p.m. at the Doug MacVane Community Center, Peaks Island. The book will be on sale after the reading and talk. Refreshments will be served.
Peaks Island author Scott Nash offers event at Portland Stage Co.
Join The Affiliate Artists and Author/illustrator Scott Nash for a night of readings from his new book, The High Skies Adventures of Blue Jay The Pirate, as well as other works by Nash.
An open discussion and book signing will follow the actors’ readings.
April 8th 7 p.m. at Portland Stage Co., Forest Avenue, Portland.
For the “big, bloody, beating heart”: Love from the Rock Benefit
In Peaks Island Press’ last article, I described the benefit for Longfellow Books, our beloved indie bookstore that Joshua Bodwell calls the “big, bloody, beating heart” of this city’s literary community. Peaks Islanders love Portland. They love their independent bookstore. And they love their independence out here on “the Rock.” Roll that all together, along with Scott and Nancy Nash‘s brilliant event logo artwork, and you have a benefit designed to help Longfellow Books recover from Nemo blizzard damage. Thanks to Eleanor Morse‘s inspiration to organize this event, you can come and bid for a 90 minute origami lesson, two piano tunings, or a bisque ware painting party for four, and much, much more! Just two days away, don’t miss it!
Love from the Rock
Brackett Memorial United Church
Sunday March 10th, 2:00 p.m.
- 2.00: Children’s book (ages 8 and up) readings begin–including authors Jamie Hogan, Scott Nash and Annie O’Brien;
- 2.30: Silent auction browsing and bidding.
- 2.45: Adult fiction reading from authors Nicole d’Entremont, James Hayman, and Eleanor Morse
- Coffee, tea, amazing baked goods, books for sale.
Love from “the Rock”: Peaks Island Reading and Silent Auction to Benefit Longfellow Books
Fans and humidifiers dry out Longfellow Books. MPBN photo.
On Sunday, March 10th, the Peaks Island community of authors, readers, and unabashed bibliophiles will gather to raise funds to benefit their beloved, award-winning independent bookstore, Longfellow Books. As most people know, “Nemo, the Blizzard of 2013″ delivered a destructive blow to the Longfellow Square-based bookstore, requiring it to close temporarily and undergo considerable repairs from damage incurred by severe flooding. Approximately half of the stock was damaged, and insurance will only partially cover the losses – you’re not surprised, I know.
Well, islanders aren’t afraid of rising waters and they’re prone to band together to make important things happen. Author Eleanor Morse is organizing a reading and silent auction to benefit Longfellow Books. Here is how you can get involved.
Eleanor Morse, at her recent reading at Longfellow Books
Love from the Rock
Brackett Memorial United Church
Sunday March 10th, 2:00 p.m.
- 2.00: Children’s book (ages 8 and up) readings begin–including authors Jamie Hogan, Scott Nash and Annie O’Brien;
- 2.30: Silent auction browsing and bidding.
- 2.45: Adult fiction reading from authors Nicole d’Entremont, James Hayman, and Eleanor Morse
- Coffee, tea, amazing baked goods, books for sale.
Longfellow Books is one of the last remaining indie bookstores in the Portland area. It’s
more than a store–it’s a place for people to gather, to browse, to attend readings and
events, to be a thinking and feeling human being. WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU CAN DO?
Donations of services for the silent auction (help-your-neighbor/brighten March). For instance:
- a drawing lesson
- magician tricks for children’s birthday party
- juggling lessons
- dump run
- clean the refrigerator
- shoot pictures for an hour
- walk the dog/feed the cat
- interior design color consultation
- birthday cake/pie
- teach dance moves
What else?–let your mind roam free! Please email Rhonda Berg at brhonda1@maine.rr.com or Eleanor Morse at eleanor.morse@gmail.com to set up your donation.
Donations of baked goods for the afternoon of March 10th. Coffee will be provided, and juice for kids. If you can bring a plate of goodies, please bring it to the Fellowship Hall of the Brackett Church by 1.45 on March 10th.
Celebrate the Publication of White Dog Fell From the Sky at Longfellow Books
Previously, I have written about Eleanor Morse and her award-winning novel, The Unexpected Forest. Since that time, Eleanor has written her third novel, White Dog Fell from the Sky, whose publication by Viking she celebrates next Friday, January 11th.
Advance Praise for White Dog Fell From the Sky from Publishers Weekly “Pick of the Week” calls it “Brutal and beautiful . . . Morse’s unflinching portrayals of extremes of loyalty and cruelty make for an especially memorable novel.”
Portland’s beloved Indie bookstore, Longfellow Books, will host a wonderful evening of Zambabwean music, beginning at 6:30 p.m., followed by Eleanor reading from her book at 7 p.m.
Interested in learning more about Eleanor and her newest novel, White Dog Fell from the Sky? Read my interview with Eleanor here.
-Patricia Erikson is a Peaks Island-based writer and educator who blogs about the literary community on Peaks Island at Peaks Island Press.
Two island authors launch books this week
Catherynne Valente’s newest YA novel
Island Reading by Scott Nash of new novel
Islanders seem to be launching books as often as they launch boats these days. It’s a phenomenal literary week here on Peaks Island as both Scott Nash and Catherynne Valente celebrate and hold events for their respective new books. Catherynne has just released her next YA novel, a sequel to the New York Times Bestselling The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. Her new book, The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, has led Cat off on a month-long book tour of 19 different cities across the country – an epic journey she’s hashtagged #halloweentour. Good luck trying to keep up with her on her twitter stream @catvalente. Fair winds and following seas to you, Cat!
Scott’s epic launch party will occur tomorrow, Friday, at 7:00 p.m. at Portland’s beloved indie bookstore, Longfellow Books, where a three-dimensional window installation teases us to rush for the shelf and buy his new book. He’s also treating islanders to a reading on Saturday, October 6th from 1-3 p.m. at the Seaside Shop. Come help celebrate the publication of his middle-grade graphic novel, The High Skies Adventures of Blue Jay the Pirate.
Journey into the Backwaters of the Heart with Laima Vince
Laima Vince recording oral history
Peaks Island-based author Laima Vince will read from her book Journey into the Backwaters of the Heart: Stories of Women who Survived Hitler and Stalin on Thursday, September 6th. Journey is a collection of oral histories that Laima gathered from women who fought in the armed post-war resistance against the Soviet Union, who were Lithuanian Jewish Holocaust survivors, and who survived exile to Siberia and Tajikistan. Journey is one in Laima’s trilogy of literary nonfiction books that examines social and cultural issues in Lithuania as the country evolved from a Soviet society to a post-Soviet independent nation.
Laima graduated from the Writing Division at Columbia University School of the Arts, has been twice awarded a Fulbright in Creative Writing, and has received a National Endowment for the Arts grant in Literature.
September 6, 2012 – 7:00 p.m.
MacVane Community Room, Peaks Island, Maine
Scott Nash: The High Skies Adventures of Blue Jay the Pirate
Illustration of the flying pirate ships in Scott Nash’s new young adult novel
If you knew that my bookshelves harbored a large selection of pirate-related fiction and non-fiction, you could imagine how excited I was to sit down with neighbor and author-illustrator Scott Nash to discuss the imminent release of his first young adult novel, “The High Skies Adventures of Blue Jay the Pirate.“
This week, the library’s annual meeting provides island residents and visitors with the opportunity to hear Scott speak about his swashbuckling bird-pirates who navigate air ships through their old-growth forest as they evade predators and the strictures of a 17th century colonial government.
Scott lives on Peaks Island with his talented wife, Nancy Gibson Nash, and their rascally dog, Zephyr. As a neighbor who has lingered over fondue dinners with Scott and Nancy during long winter evenings, I know that Scott is a Renaissance man – he’s as comfortable listening to Mendelssohn while he writes as he is playing Johnny Cash on his mandolin or transfixing neighbors of all ages with performance art installations. Scott is known as an illustrator of more than 40 children’s books (Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp is my personal favorite), but his talents extend more broadly. He assumes the Head of the Illustration Program at Maine College of Art this year and continues to lead Nashbox, a graphic design and creative studio based in Portland that focuses upon children’s media and brands.
It is the newest chapter of his career, however, that fascinates me most: becoming the author of a young adult novel. When I asked Scott what lured him from illustrating picture books to writing a chapter book, I discovered my own misconception that his writing and drawing would be separate processes. Scott said, “When I create a character in a sketchbook, it has a consciousness and I often find myself wanting to spend time with her, him or it. I draw to inform my writing and I write to inform my drawing. It is my peculiar way of realizing a story.”
High Skies Adventures of Blue Jay the Pirate
Scott handed me the advance copy of his book as though he was handing over a newborn for the first time. The High Skies Adventures of Blue Jay the Pirateis beautiful; I was struck by the classic look of its cover, font, and illustrations. Scott described how the classic chapter books of his childhood inspired him, “I loved how you would read the narrative and then you were rewarded with a picture. Then your imagination took over again with the narrative.” What inspired him to create this particular story? “Birds have always been important to me, but not the way they’re depicted in children’s media as just fluffy and cheerful. I see freedom, resilience, and a hardscrabble life when I look at them. And I’ve always loved pirates, of course. So, in this story, a 17th century colonial government [primarily an off-stage character] bans birds from migrating and condemns them to serfdom. The theme of migration allows me to explore what it means to be cultured, to be “civilized.”
Scott Nash in his studio
Like most books, this one had a long gestation period and a lot of hard labor behind it. “It was initially three times larger. I loved where the research took me. It makes the fantasy more real to touch down into the history of pirates.” Scott credits his editor for helping him to hone the book to its current form. “Mary Lee Donovan, senior editor at Candlewick Press, and I have worked together for many years. She helps to drive the creative process; there just aren’t many author-editor relationships like that these days.”
And where does Scott like to write? “I’m nomadic. I don’t like to write in just one place. I like to find the place with the right energy.” That means you might catch sight of Scott writing in his car, on the Eastern Promenade, in coffee shops, or in his hammock or studio wearing headphones. Wherever it is, he’s chasing that good energy that fuels amazing work. Take time out to hear him this Wednesday.
Annual Meeting of the Friends of the Peaks Island Library on Wednesday, August 16, 2012 7:00 pm
MacVane Community Room, Peaks Island
Peaks Island Branch Library Annual Meeting
