Archives for Word Literary Festival

Word Literary Festival 7/29/25: Lorne

Word Festival: Lorne – In a year of anniversaries, Saturday Night Live turned 50, and The New Yorker celebrated its first century. To mark the occasion, Word and Working Loose, the Blue Hill “concept shop” and art gallery, hosted a conversation between two New Yorker editors, one of whom has written the definitive biography of SNL founder Lorne Michaels. The event took place on Tuesday, July 29. Susan Morrison, New Yorker articles editor and author of Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, was interviewed by New Yorker executive editor Daniel Zalewski. The conversation took place at Working Loose, 49 Main Street, Blue Hill.

Recorded by Matt Murphy.

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Word Literary Festival 2024: An Evening with Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Dr. Charlie Rolsky

Saturday, October 26, 2024

Sometimes the bravest thing we can do while facing an existential crisis is to imagine life on the other side. Marine biologist, policy advisor, and writer Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is co-founder of Urban Ocean Lab, a think tank for the future of coastal cities, and co-creator of the podcast “How to Save a Planet.” Her new book, What if We Get It Right?, asks: What would the future look like if we forged ahead with all the solutions to actually address the climate crisis? Her answer is a collection of provocative and joyous maps to an inspiring landscape of possible climate futures. Dr. Johnson will be in conversation with Dr. Charlie Rolsky, executive director of the Shaw Institute in Blue Hill.

Recorded by Matt Murphy.

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Word Literary Festival 2024: Poets Aloud!

Saturday, October 26, 2024

The power of community supporting the art of poetry is ever present at Word’s annual POETRY ALIVE event. It’s an ideal opportunity to spend time with a variety of poetic voices. Please join us on Saturday, October 25, 2024 at 4:00 p.m. when we welcome the following poets to our stage: Kathleen Ellis, UMO Honors teacher and coordinator of Poets/Speak!; Dave Morrison, musician and author of 17 poetry collections; and Maya Williams former Poet Laureate of Portland, this year’s Ashley Bryant Fellow, and slam poet finalist.

Recorded by Matt Murphy.

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Word Literary Festival 2024: A Conversation with Lev Grossman

Friday, October 25, 2024

What do you do when the world has lost its balance and your heroes are gone? Lev Grossman’s bestselling novel, The Bright Sword, is an Arthurian epic for our troubled times, the story of an idealistic young knight who arrives at Camelot ready to serve, only to find that King Arthur is dead and the Round Table is in shambles. With a rag-tag band of lesser knights and misfits, he sets out on a quest to make this ruined world whole again.

Grossman–author of the best-selling Magicians trilogy, basis for the TV series of the same title–will join Laura Miller, Slate books and culture columnist, to discuss the lasting power of our oldest myths and how to write about hope, heroism, and the dream of a better world.

Recorded by Matt Murphy.

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Maine Currents 11/7/23: Word Literary Arts Festival 2023: “A.O. Scott in conversation with Alicia Anstead”

Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Audio recorded by Matt Murphy

This month:
“A.O. Scott in conversation with Alicia Anstead”, recorded by Matt Murphy on October 21st. at the annual Word Literary Arts Festival in Blue Hill. WERU is a media sponsor of the annual festival.

Guest:
A.O. Scott, critic at large for the New York Times Book Review.

FMI:
www.wordfestival.org/
www.nytimes.com/by/a-o–scott

Sponsored by the Word Festival and Blue Hill Books

Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices and Maine Currents, she also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and the First Place 2017 Radio News Award from the Maine Association of Broadcasters.

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Word Literary Festival 2023: Poets Aloud

Poets Aloud! At the 2023 Word Literary Festival
Recorded Saturday, October 21, 2023, 3pm to 5pm at the First Congregational Church of Blue Hill.
A variety of poetic voices at this year’s reading. Word welcomes the following poets to the stage: Meg Weston, co-founder of both Poets Corner and the Camden Poetry Festival; Chen Chen, whose work has appeared in The New York Times and three editions of The Best American Poetry; Meghan Sterling, Program Director at MWPA and winner of the Paul Nemser Book Prize (2022). Finally, in a special tribute, Maine’s fifth Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum (2016-2021) will read the work of the late Paul Nemser of Harborside, poet of “a thousand brilliances’ (Red Mountain Press), who died earlier this year.

Recorded by Matt Murphy.

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Maine Currents 10/3/23: Author Ann Patchett speaking in Blue Hill

Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Audio recorded by Matt Murphy

This month:
A lively and often humorous discussion with Ann Patchett, celebrated author of “Bel Canto” and eight other novels, and Lynn Boulger, executive director of The Authors Guild Foundation recorded August 4, 2023 in Blue Hill.

Sponsored by the Word Festival and Blue Hill Books

Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices and Maine Currents, she also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and the First Place 2017 Radio News Award from the Maine Association of Broadcasters.