The latest installement of the Friends of Merrymeeting Bay’s 18th annual WInter Speaker Series will feature poet Gary Lawless. GARY LAWLESS
The program, titled “Chimney Farm: Words from the Watershed,” will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 11, at Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick. The event is free and open to the public.
According to FOMB, Chimney Farm on Damariscotta Lake was the Maine home of writers Henry Beston, Elizabeth Coatsworth and Kate Beston Barnes. As Kate Barnes said, “the main crop of the farm was words.” Much of that writing was influenced by the natural world around the farm, now protected by the Damariscotta Lake Watershed Association.
Lawless has been caretaker at the farm since 1986, and will talk about — and read from — the works of these writers celebrating the natural world.
Lawless is, himself, a poet, as well as a bookstore owner, book editor and publisher. Born in Belfast and living now in Nobleboro, he is co-owner of Gulf of Maine Books in Brunswick (with Beth Leonard) and owner of the publishing company Blackberry Books in Nobleboro. Lawless is an associate professor of literature at Bates College in Lewiston, where he teaches courses in creative writing and environmental literature. Lawless was a poet-inresidence for the town of Sitka, Alaska, and the National Park Service at Isle Royale National Park at Lake Superior, in 1998. Gary taught creative writing for five years in MSAD 75’s adult education program.
FOMB hosts monthly lectures, film screenings, and other events around the Merrymeeting Bay area through May as part of its Winter Speaker Series. They are always free and open to the public and supported by Patagonia Inc. in Freeport. All events take place at 7 p.m. the second Wednesday of the month at Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick, unless otherwise noted.
Visit www.fomb.org to see the full Speaker Series schedule, become a member and learn more about how to help protect beautiful Merrymeeting Bay.
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