WINTER HARBOR — Four Downeast Maine authors will present a unique festival performance in the Schoodic Arts for All summer series, at 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 23 at Hammond Hall, 427 Main St. Titled “The Downeast Book Babes: From Ancient Rome to Downeast Maine — A Reader’s Journey”, it will take the audience through an evening of storytelling and poetry — a little history, a little mystery, haiku and tanka, some audience participation and fun.
The Downeast Book Babes — Sherry Christe of Jonesport, Catherine J. S. Lee of Eastport, Faye Weatherbee and Danielle Woerner of Milbridge — are author friends who decided to give “a reading that’s not just a reading” for this event, Woerner said. “We will share passages from our books, of course, but we also want to engage our audience with us.”
So, alongside excerpts from Christie’s suspense novels set in ancient Rome, Woerner’s haiku and tanka, Lee’s short stories anchored on the Downeast coast and Weatherbee’s cozy mysteries set in the fictional town of Blueberry Bay, there will be guided activities, sharing about the writing process, and door prizes.
Admission to SAFA’s festival performances is by $10 suggested donation for adults, with children under 12 always free. For more information, visit www.schoodicartsforall.org or call 207-963-2569.
Sherry Christie’s love affair with Ancient Rome started with Rosemary Sutcliff and Mary Renault. While she was busy writing for financial businesses, a Roman tale started unfolding in her imagination. It took years for the first scribbles to become Roma Amor, but book two (Amber Road) followed quickly, with a future book three hot on its heels. She lives in Jonesport.
The award-winning author of a haiku collection and two short-story collections set Way Downeast, Catherine J.S. Lee continues to celebrate her coastal corner of Maine in stories, poems and photographs. A high school educator, journalist, activist and community-radio DJ, she still finds time to chase clouds and sunsets with her digital cameras, tend her perennial gardens and be deeply involved in the local arts community.
Faye Weatherbee, author of the ongoing Blueberry Bay Cozy Mystery series, lives in a Downeast town very much like the one in her books — tossing in a glimpse of Maine history and a glimmer of magical realism as amateur sleuth Lisa and her clue-sniffing Havanese, Ziggy Starnose, find themselves fish out of water. Faye also shares her love of living here in her Substack series “Beyond the Page.” Like good mysteries, our event may harbor a reveal…
Acclaimed poet, singer and songwriter Danielle Woerner and her husband Claude Johnson fell in love with the Downeast-Acadia region two decades ago. Since 2014, their Sunrise County Arts Institute in Milbridge has offered writing groups, concerts, singing lessons and school drama activities. Danielle’s poetry has been included in international journals, and closer to home, anthologies published by Resolute Bear Press (Robbinston) and the Eastport Arts Center, plus her own chapbook.