Working Waterfront

Bucksport to host maritime film festival

Two Maine organizations dedicated to preserving the past have collaborated to present documentary films in a festival this fall. The International Maritime Film Festival, set for Sept. 30-Oct. 2, is being hosted by Northeast Historic Film (NHF) and Brooklin-based WoodenBoat Publications. The festival will include short and feature length films,… SEE MORE

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‘Paris of the ’70s’: Portland emerges

This is the second of a three-part series recollecting the look and feel of Portland in the 1960s, '70s and '80s by a Maine writer who spent his youth there. In the 1970s, Portland grew up. That's one way, anyway, of describing the transition the whole city, and especially the… SEE MORE

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The triumph of the unpredictable

American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good By Colin Woodard New York: Viking, 2016 A humorous New Yorker magazine cover from mid-2015 depicts the then-Republican field of would-be presidents suiting up in a genteel locker room as Hillary Clinton looks in the window:… SEE MORE

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Be ruthless: novelist heeds her own advice

My Name is Lucy Barton By Elizabeth Strout (Random House, 2016) I let my mind wander a bit as I pondered writing this review, as if I were the title character in Elizabeth Strout’s new novel, My Name is Lucy Barton, feverish and somewhat free-associating. I’ve reviewed Strout’s novels on… SEE MORE

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Vinalhaven to celebrate work of noted children’s author

Margaret Wise Brown, author of such children's classics as Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny and The Little Island, had a deep love for Vinalhaven. In fact, the home she bought on Long Cove is the only house she ever owned. Perhaps that's why she called it the Only House. Brown… SEE MORE

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Understanding Portland, understanding Maine

There are no cities in Maine. With a population of about 66,000, Portland doesn’t qualify, at least by national standards. If Portland were in Massachusetts, it would be the 15th largest community, bigger than Haverill but smaller than Framingham. And city or not, Portland is often dismissed these days as… SEE MORE

Some of the early members of Maine Coast Artists

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Maine rocks the arts, the arts rock Maine

In 2012, according to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Economic Analysis, arts and culture production accounted for $698 billion, or 4.32 percent of the nation’s economy. Surprise: that’s more than construction, transportation or tourism. In Maine, by 2014, there were 3,262 arts-related businesses sustaining 10,667 jobs. In other words, the arts account for… SEE MORE

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A year of teaching social justice

Life on North Haven can have an insular, sheltered feeling to it. This can be blissful—children roam free, parents confident in their safety, rides are freely asked for and given, and babysitters are abundant and trustworthy. The downside to our little Mayberry is that awareness of social injustice can be… SEE MORE

The cover art for the 2016 edition of The Island Reader was created by Islesboro student Cheyenne Houle.

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The Island Reader celebrates homegrown art, literature

There is a side to island life that might be eclipsed by fishermen’s working lobster boats and pickup trucks, and tourists walking off ferries. Art and literature are alive and well in island communities, and the Maine Seacoast Mission believes they are worth celebrating and sharing. To that end, the… SEE MORE

Suzette McAvoy in a hallway at the new Center for Maine Contemporary Art.

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High visibility for contemporary art in Rockland

The idea behind the new Center for Maine Contemporary Art (CMCA) building on Winter Street just off Main Street in Rockland is to “turn a traditional museum inside out,” says executive director Suzette McAvoy. The building, which has been under construction and visible to much of Rockland’s downtown over the… SEE MORE