Tag Archives: Maine Women Writers Collection

Books, Libraries

Island reading in the time of Coronavirus

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If you’re a book lover  this is the prime time to be living on an island. Although our library is closed, there are still a myriad of opportunities for folks who love the written word. First of all, most of us have a “Tsundoko” – it’s a Japanese term, which refers to the stack of books on a bedside table waiting to be read. When that runs out, we can delve into our libraries to reread old favorites. Then, we borrow books from friends (social distancing, of course).

For those who don’t mind reading books on a device, you can download books through a variety of sources, including the Long Island Community Library e-books and audiobooks – see Long Island Community Library website for more information.

Beyond reading books, for those who have access to a computer, there is a whole world out there for literary experiences, as businesses and organizations in the business of the written word are expanding their offerings to the online community.

For example, here in Maine, you can attend poetry readings online such as this one at Longfellow Books’ website, which offers a poetry reading by Scott Withiam. Longfellow Books is also willing to mail books.

For the writers in our midst, there are online classes available through the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance

Maine Women Writers Collection offers a fun Instagram as well as a Quarantine Book List by Maine women writers.  Greater Portland Landmarks also offers their suggested book list

That’s just the tip of the iceberg – there are many more out there. (Anyone have any favorites?)

So, there’s no excuse, in these days of quarantine, to not be able to expand your universe beyond the walls of your home – especially through books!

Libraries

A poem for spring

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spring on Long Island 10In the heart of Westbrook College (University of New England), a quintessential New England college campus, lies a treasure: The Maine Women Writers Collection.

Founded in 1959 by Grace Dow and Dorothy Healy to honor, preserve, and make available the writings of Maine women who have achieved literary recognition, the Collection has over 8,000 volumes on more than 500 Maine women. The Collection also includes correspondence, photographs, personal papers, manuscripts, typescripts, artifacts, and audio recordings that provide insight into the lives and writing of both well-known and obscure authors.

(from the MWWC website: http://www.une.edu/mwwc/collection/index.cfm)

When I worked at Westbrook College’s Abplanalp Library the poet May Sarton had recently died, and her entire library, along with sound recordings and photographs came to the college library. I was able to sort through all her library, many of which had a bookmark or something similar tucked away in each book, linking May to the author.

For more on May Sarton’s collection at the Maine Women Writers Collection see:http://www.une.edu/mwwc/research/featuredwriters/sartonm.cfm

In memory of May Sarton, as well as celebrating the first day of spring on Thursday (although we’re still in the midst of cold and snow), I offer to you this poem by May Sarton:

Always it happens when we are not there–

The tree leaps up alive into the air,

Small open parasols of Chinese green

Wave on each twig. But who has ever seen

The latch sprung, the bud as it burst?

Spring always manages to get there first.
Lovers of wind, who will have been aware

Of a faint stirring in the empty air,

Look up one day through a dissolving screen

To find no star, but this multiplied green,

Shadow on shadow, singing sweet and clear.

Listen, lovers of wind, the leaves are here!