Camden Meets Belfast: A Celebration of Poetry November 20

On Tuesday, November 20, at 7:00 pm, four of Midcoast Maine’s most accomplished poets will share their work in the Picker Room of the Camden Public Library, continuing a tradition of enjoyable gatherings of writers and readers at the library. There is no cost to attend this reading, and books by each of the poets will be for sale. The poets are Lauren Murray and Elizabeth W. Garber of Belfast, and Kristen Lindquist and Dave Morrison of Camden.

Lauren Murray is a performance poet who lives and works in Belfast. Lauren was a featured poet in the 2009 Belfast Poetry Festival with her work, The Mystery of Love, performing with pianist Leslie Stein and modern dancer Joan Proudman. hear if you dare is a new book comprised of 18 poems by Murray, each one accompanied by Joan Proudman’s photo-illustrations. The writing and artwork explore the theme of listening within to discover one’s creativity and to experience the divine.

Elizabeth W. Garber has served as the Poet Laureate of Belfast and has now published three books of poetry (Listening Inside the Dance, Pierced by the Seasons, and her newest, True Affections) and a chapbook, The Mayor and Other Stories of Small Town Life. Three of her poems have been read by Garrison Keillor on The Writer’s Almanac. She is completing two memoirs, The Architect’s Daughter and A Last Great Love. In True Affections: Poems from a Small Town, Elizabeth Garber’s long-awaited third collection of poems continues her exploration of a life well lived in Maine. Garber’s poems are grounded in distinctive Maine moments in town and on islands, and capture a variety of voices.

Kristen Lindquist works for Coastal Mountains Land Trust in her hometown of Camden. She received her MFA from the University of Oregon and worked many summers at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference. Her poetry and other writings have appeared in Down East Magazine, the Maine Times, and the Bangor Daily News, as well as various literary journals and anthologies. Her publications include the chapbookInvocation to the Birds (Oyster River Press, 2001) and the book Transportation (Megunticook Press, 2011), which was a finalist for a Maine Literary Award.

Dave Morrison of Camden has been hailed as ‘a hearty weed in the garden of American poetry’.  His poems have been published in literary magazines and anthologies and read on Writer’s Almanac.  His seventh book Clubland is a collection of poems about rock bars written in classic form. He will be introducing his eighth collection of poems, fail.