Please join the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance at Congress Square Park for a reading in support of Freedom & Captivity, “a state-wide public humanities initiative during Fall 2021 to bring critical perspectives from the humanities to the interrogation of incarceration.” A small collection of Maine writers will share stories and poems that reflect on the past, present, and future of freedom and incarceration. The poets and writers include Craig Grossi, Mira Ptacin, Betsy Sholl, and Maya Williams.
This event is free and in person.
Craig Grossi is a Marine Corps veteran, recipient of the Purple Heart and Georgetown University graduate. He is the author of the books Second Chances: A Marine, His Dog, and Finding Redemption and Craig & Fred: A Marine, a Stray Dog, and How They Rescued Each Other. When not travelling with Fred, he devotes his time to veteran organizations including the USA Warriors Ice Hockey Program and other nonprofits that benefit dogs and veterans. He now lives in Maine with his partner Nora, and their dogs Fred and Ruby.
Mira Ptacin is the author of the critically acclaimed genre-bending book of history and memoir The In-Betweens: The Spiritualists, Mediums, and Legends of Camp Etna (Liveright, 2019) as well as the award-winning memoir Poor Your Soul (Soho Press 2016). Her work has been published in New York Magazine, Guernica, Down East, Tin House, LitHub, NPR, and more. Formerly an instructor at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, Ptacin lives on Peaks Island with her family and is at work on her third book of nonfiction.
Betsy Sholl served as Poet Laureate of Maine from 2006 to 2011. Her ninth collection of poetry is House of Sparrows: New and Selected Poems (University of Wisconsin Press, 2019). Otherwise Unseeable won the 2015 Maine Literary Award for poetry, and she also received the Maine Literary Award for Distinguished Achievement in 2020. Other awards include the AWP Prize for Poetry, the Felix Pollak Prize, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and two Maine Individual Artists Grants. She currently teaches in the MFA Program of Vermont College of Fine Arts, and lives in Portland, Maine.
Maya Williams (she/hers, they/them, and ey/em) is a religious queer Black Mixed Race suicide survivor constantly writing poems and was recently named the Poet Laureate of Portland, Maine. Their poems have appeared in many publications including the Maine Sunday Telegram, Frost Meadow Review, and glitterMOB. She graduated with a community practice-focused Masters in Social Work and Certificate in Applied Arts and Social Justice at the University of New England in May 2018. She is currently in Randolph College's low residency Masters in Fine Arts for Creative Writing focusing on Poetry.