Tag: Eastport

I’m really looking forward to tonight’s reading

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

If you’re a musician or writer or some other kind of performance-potential artist, you probably find being part of an open mic event invigorating. Not just because you get to air your own work and see how it fares on exposure, but also because you’re amid so many kindred spirits.

Tonight has a kind of hybrid version — six featured published writers at the wine bar downtown — and it is creating a buzz in our small community. Each of us gets about 15 minutes in the spotlight, as well as a book-signing and chat time afterward.

I’ll be reading a chapter from my new book, Quaking Dover, one that details a remarkable but often overlooked outburst in early New England, the bohemian colony called Merrymount. I had settled on that excerpt, a side I hadn’t yet presented in my presentations, before realizing how appropriate it is for this weekend’s ArtWalk festivities, many of them reflecting Pride awareness.

So, here we go … just as the summer season is beginning in our oceanside setting.

This feels like a ‘welcome to the club’

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 1 Comment

Coming up at the Phoenix wine bar downtown on Thursday from 6-8 pm, I’ll be one of six local writers reading from our books.

It’s organized by Catherine SJ Lee, whose wonderful collection of short stories Island Secrets is well worth acquiring. One secret she doesn’t mention is how many fine writers and other artists dwell on the charming island I now call home. Honestly, I feel honored to be among those invited to read and am certainly looking forward to personally meeting others.

Each of us will present a 15-minute selection of our work and then engage in a meet-and-greet over a bookselling and signing at the end.

These days, presenting my case without including an accompanying PowerPoint does feel a bit strange. Still, as a writer, I do love having the text itself be the sole focus, as I have enjoyed in our monthly open mics at the arts center.

The wine bar event is part of the first ArtWalk weekend of the season in Eastport and Lubec. Other planned activities include gallery tours, rock painting, sidewalk chalking, games, musicians around town, an outdoor contradance, and perhaps a street dance or two.