Events
For those interested in scheduling a virtual or in-person book club visit, please use the CONTACT form.
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Bangor Literary Festival: Book Signing
December 14, 2024
10:00 AM to 3:30 PM
Bangor Public Library, Bangor, ME
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Sailing Svalbard: The Last Imaginary Place
The Evolution of The Last Whaler
February 22, 2025
2:00-4:00 PM
Tredyffrin Public Library, Strafford, PA
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Affect and Act: Environmental and Climate Storytelling Across Diverse Mediums
AWP 2025 Panel
March 26-29, 2025
Date and Time: TBD
To paraphrase climatologist Judith Curry, storytelling is "a way of smuggling" environmental and climate concerns into readers' consciousness; moreover, it can compel them to imagine past, present, and future impacts of human action on the environment. What does pioneering research reveal as the most "affective" ways for storytellers to respond to the eco-crises we face? If our writing is meant to influence cultural-social-political change, what creative approaches best accomplish that goal?
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How Do Novels Find Their Form?
In Conversation with Carla Spataro
April 15, 2025
6:00-7:00 PM
Camden Public Library, Camden, ME
Join me and Carla Spataro, author of More Strange Than True, as we discuss why we chose to tell our stories in the way we did. Did the "form" come before the writing, or did it follow after the drafting was underway? Included in the conversation will be my dual narrative novel The Last Whaler and my novel-in-stories Falling Through the New World.
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Making the Leap from Fact to Fiction: A Generative Workshop
April 30, 2025
Noon-2:00 PM
Rockport Public Library, Rockport, ME
In this workshop, we will be discussing how writers create the necessary authority surrounding the "facts" embedded in the narrative to make readers surrender themselves to the "dream of the story."
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Archived Events
Sailing Svalbard: The Last Imaginary Place
Inspirations for The Last Whaler
November 23, 2024
Noon to 2:00 PM
Tribune Books and Gifts, 430 Main Street, Norway, ME
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The Poetics of Place: A Generative Workshop
November 16, 2024
2:00-4:00 PM
Thomas Memorial Library
Cape Elizabeth, Maine
The ever-changing nature of memory makes it an inexhaustible source of inspiration for writing. We will use Gaston Bachelard's The Poetics of Space as a springboard for accessing memories of place and using those memories to generate new work or expand on existing work. If you're halfway through NaNoWriMo and haven't yet met your writing goals, this workshop will help you achieve them through a series of prompts to open new pathways in your writing.
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The Sounding Board at Merry Barn Writers' Retreat
November 14, 2024
5:30 PM-8:00 PM
Merry Barn, 17 River Road, Edgecomb, ME
The Sounding Board is a monthly, in-person forum for writers of all abilities to share brief pieces, receive feedback, and hear new work from a published author. Find out more at: Merry Barn Sounding Board
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Sailing Svalbard: The Last Imaginary Place
Inspirations for The Last Whaler
November 10, 2024
6:00-7:30 PM
Novel Maine, book bar and café, 643 Congress St, Portland, ME
RSVP here so that Novel Maine has an idea of the number of attendees.
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Exploring the Novel in Stories
November 9, 2024
2:00-3:30 PM
Gibbs Library, 40 Old Union Road, Washington, ME
Join me and Maine writer Laura Bonazzoli, author of the novel in stories Consecration Pond, for a discussion of the novel in stories as a unique genre, inlcuding its history, examples including our books, characteristics that separate this form from the novel and short story collections, and the benefits and challenges for readers and writers.
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The Last Whaler Discussion
White Springs Book Club (private)
November 5, 2024
2:00 - 4:00 PM
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The Last Whaler and Friends Launch Celebration
RSVP to cynthiapreeves@gmail.com.
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Sailing Svalbard: The Last Imaginary Place
Inspirations for The Last Whaler
October 19, 2024
At Noon
Lemuria Books, 202 Banner Hall, Jackson, MS
Join me in conversation with Gerry Wilson, author of That Pinson Girl.
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Sailing Svalbard: The Last Imaginary Place
Inspirations for The Last Whaler
October 16, 2024
6:00 PM
Farmington Public Library, 117 Academy Street, Farmington, ME
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Sailing Svalbard: The Last Imaginary Place
In Conversation with Elizabeth Garber
October 15, 2024
6:00-7:30 PM
Left Bank Books, 109 Church Street, Belfast, ME
Join me in conversation with Belfast author Elizabeth Garber, author of Implosion: A Memoir and Sailing at the Edge of Disaster, as I share photos of the Arctic places that inspired The Last Whaler.
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Sailing Svalbard: The Last Imaginary Place
Inspirations for The Last Whaler
October 12, 2024
2:00 PM
BookSpace, 48 Columbia Street, Bangor, ME
This event is sponsored by The Briar Patch bookstore of Bangor.
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Polar Paradoxes:
Exploring the Sublime and Fragile Beauty of the Polar Regions in Writing and Art
October 5, 2024
3:00-5:00 PM
Falmouth Public Library, Falmouth, ME
Join me and Maine artists Justin Levesque and Sherre Wilson-Liljegren as we discuss how we have captured the dialectic of ideas presented by the polar regions—the tension between witnessing the sublime in the natural world and the damage wrought by human encroachment on once-pristine landscapes, and the way those concepts are mediated to audiences. This event is part of Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance's "Everything, Everywhere All at Once" Night in which writers and artists will lead community events and activities across the state.
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Newport Public Library
The Wednesday Book Group
October 2, 2024
1:30 - 3:00 PM
Newport Public Library, 300 Spring Street, Newport, RI, Rotary Room
Registration is required. Link to registration portal
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Sailing Svalbard: The Last Imaginary Place
Inspirations for The Last Whaler
October 2, 2024
6:00-8:00 PM
Newport Public Library, 300 Spring Street, Newport, RI
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Sailing Svalbard: The Last Imaginary Place
Inspirations for The Last Whaler
September 24, 2024
6:30-8:00 PM
Thomas Memorial Library, Cape Elizabeth, ME
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Italian American Writers Association (IAWA)
Boston Literary Series
Falling Through the New World and Falling Into the Diaspora
September 21, 2024
6:00-8:00 PM
I Am Books, 124 Salem Street, North End, Boston
Join MaryAnn Miller and me for a reading and conversation about the influences of Italian and family history on our work.
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Sailing Svalbard: The Last Imaginary Place
Inspirations for The Last Whaler
September 18, 2024
6:00 PM
Rockport Public Library, 1 Limerock Street, Rockport, ME
Join me for my stateside launch of The Last Whaler. Refreshments will be served. Link to Rockport Library's calendar
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The Last Whaler Book signing at The Whistling Whale Coffee Shop
Lyman-Morse Wharf on Camden Harbor
September 14, 2024
8:00 AM-Noon
Join me for a cup of coffee and a whaler biscuit at The Whistling Whale, enter for a chance to win a whale-tracking bracelet, and pick up your signed copy of The Last Whaler.
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Longyearbyen Literature Festival, September 1-6, 2024
Of Whale Bones, Ice Floes, and Abandoned Mines:
The Evolution of The Last Whaler
September 2, 2024
8:00 PM
Nordover Gallery
Longyearbyen, Svalbard
For more information: Link to Festival Website
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The Novel in Stories
Summer Wine and Sign Series
June 8, 2024
5:30 PM
Anodyne Bookshop, Searsport, ME