Join us for an evening of poetry at Stone Broke Bread & Books, sprung from research in the Maine Women Writers Collection (MWWC). Beth Alison Jones will read from an in-progress series of poems inspired by the journals of Isabel Hoffses, a 19th-century school teacher from Waldoboro, Maine.  She suffered bouts of homelessness, poverty, and a debilitating mental illness. The poems explore a powerful and singular mental will that insists on its own freedom.  The Civil War is the unmentioned backdrop.  

MWWC Archivist Jefferson Navicky will read poems inspired by his work at MWWC processing archival collections, assisting researchers, and communing with ghosts and other spirits that haunt the past’s detritus.

Jefferson will be reading as a part of the Camden Festival of Poetry. The festival is FREE and OPEN to the public.

Our Town Photography & Writing Workshop with Sharyn Peavey & Jefferson Navicky In-Person

Meetinghouse Arts will present a Photography and Writing Workshop, at the Freeport Community Library on Thursday May 9th at 6:00PM, featuring photographer Sharyn Peavey and writer Jefferson Navicky.   

Meetinghouse Arts is proud to bring this free workshop with Sharyn and Jefferson to the Library as the first of three photo and writing workshops in support of Our Town: A Community Self Portrait; a community arts documentary project funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. The Self Portrait is a two-week initiative (May 25th-June 8) that invites all residents of Freeport to capture and describe the town’s essence through photography and words. Exhibitions of participants’ work will be held at the end of October at the Meetinghouse Arts Gallery, the Freeport Historical Society, Freeport Community Services, Visit Freeport and the Freeport Community Library.

In Sharyn and Jefferson’s workshop, A Day in the Life: Photography and Poetry Capture the Quotidien, they pose the question: “How often do we let slip by the small things of everyday life? The nesting of a family of bluebirds; the way the sun strikes wet pavement on an early spring day; the pile of muddied clothes after your child's forest adventure.” This workshop invites participants to work to capture the stuff of daily life through photography and poetry. Sharyn and Jefferson will provide exercises and demonstrations to enhance and inspire your abilities to document daily life for Freeport's upcoming Our Town NEA grant. No prior experience needed; please bring something to write on/with, your sense of adventure, and your artistic eye. This event is free and open to Freeporters of all ages and walks of life. 

Sharyn Peavey is a professional photographer with a studio at Pineland Farms. She began her career in 1994 after receiving a BFA in Photography from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Other formal training includes Parsons School of Design, NYC; Pratt Institute, NYC; International Center for Photography (ICP), NYC; Walnut Hill School for the Arts and Wesleyan University Summer Arts & Dance Program. https://www.sharynpeavey.com

Jefferson Navicky is the author of four books, most recently the novel-in-prose-poems, Head of Island Beautification for the Rural Outlands (2023), as well as Antique Densities: Modern Parables & Other Experiments in Short Prose (2021), which won the 2022 Maine Literary Award for Poetry. He is the archivist for the Maine Women Writers Collection.  https://www.jeffersonnavicky.com

"Inspiration in the Archives: A Conversation about Poetry"

            with poet and teacher Beth Alison Jones, & poet and archivist Jefferson Navicky

facilitated by Dr. Jennifer Tuttle, Director of the Maine Women Writers Collection

Join us for an evening of poetry sprung from research in the Maine Women Writers Collection (MWWC). Beth Alison Jones will read from an in-progress series of poems called “We Don’t Talk About the War.” Inspired by the journals of Isabel Hoffses, a 19th century school teacher who suffered bouts of homelessness, poverty, and a debilitating mental illness, the poems explore a powerful and singular mentality will that insists on its own freedom.  The Civil War is the unmentioned backdrop. 

MWWC Archivist Jefferson Navicky will read poems inspired by his work at MWWC processing archival collections, assisting researchers, and communing with ghosts and other spirits that haunt the past’s detritus.

The evening will be introduced and moderated by Dr. Jennifer Tuttle, MWWC Director & Dorothy M. Healy Professor of Literature at UNE.

fmi, please contact MWWC Curator Sarah Baker: sbaker8@une.edu

Beth Alison Jones (she/her/hers) is a poet who lives and works in central Maine. A past recipient of an Isabella Gardner fellowship at MacDowell Colony, Beth recently received a Maine Arts Commission Springboard grant for her chapbook, “What It Means To Be A Half-Blind Horse.” Her work has appeared in many journals, including The Georgia Review, West Branch, Prairie Schooner, Poetry Daily, Shenandoah, River Styx, Cimarron Review and The Adirondack Review.  

Jefferson Navicky (he/him/his) is the author of four books, most recently Head of Island Beautification for the Rural Outlands (2023) as well as Antique Densities: Modern Parables & Other Experiments on Short Prose (2021), which won the 2022 Maine Literary Award for Poetry. His work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Smokelong Quarterly, Electric Literature, Beloit Poetry Journal, and Southern Humanities Review.

Jennifer Tuttle (she/her/hers) directs the MWWC as the Dorothy M. Healy Professor, teaches literature at UNE, and publishes literary criticism on archival studies, women’s writing, health humanities, and other subjects. She was the 2021-22 Ludcke Chair of Liberal Arts and Sciences at UNE, was a longtime editor at Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers, and co-founded UNE’s Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Program.

Stop by Back Cove Books on May 1!!!

Basketball, Blazes and Bots: Three Poets Explore Sports, Love and the Farthest Reaches of the Galaxy

Jefferson will be reading at the Yarmouth Public Library with fellow poets David Sloan and John Reinhart.

Free lunch!!

At the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland! FMI and tickets: https://www.farnsworthmuseum.org/

Jefferson will be reading with a bunch of excellent poets to celebrate the launch of Mike Bove’s book, EYE. Register for the free event at Mechanics’ Hall HERE.

A talk with Jefferson Navicky & Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr.

Harrison Bird Brown of Portland was one of 19th-century Maine's most successful marine and landscape painters. Maine State Historian Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr. will discuss Brown's life and career. His illustrated remarks will be based on his publication, "A Century of Portland Artists, 1820-1920: Landscape Paintings from the Maine Historical Society Collection." Brown served as inspiration for poet and archivist Jefferson Navicky’s most recent book, Head of Island Beautification for the Rural Outlands. The story is a novel in prose poems about three generations of landscape painters, starting with a fictionalized Harrison Bird Brown. Navicky will read selections from the book, and will speak about how Harrison Bird Brown and landscape painting inspired his latest book.

About the presenters:

Jefferson Navicky is the author of four books, most recently Head of Island Beautification for the Rural Outlands (2023) as well as Antique Densities: Modern Parables & Other Experiments on Short Prose (2021), which won the 2022 Maine Literary Book Award for Poetry. He works as the archivist for the Maine Women Writers Collection.

Earle Shettleworth, Jr. became interested in historic preservation in 1961 when, at the age of 13, Portland's Union Station was destroyed in favor of a strip mall. In 1970, he earned a B.A. in Art History from Colby College. He also earned an M.A. in Architectural History from Boston University in 1979, an L.H.D. from Bowdoin College in 2008, and an L.H.D. from the Maine College of Art in 2012. Earle served as president of the Maine Historical Society from 1977 to 1979. In 2004 Governor John E. Baldacci appointed him as State Historian, and he was reappointed to a second term by Governor Baldacci in 2008 and to a third term by Governor LePage in 2014.

Jefferson will be in conversation with Annaliese Jakimides about Head of Island Beautification for the Rural Outlands at the Russell Poetry Grove at the Common Ground Fair — 1pm, Friday Sept. 22.

Jefferson will be joining Irene M. Drago on her zoom Maine’s Reading Connection to talk about Head of Island Beautification.

Irene writes, “If you haven't read Jefferson Navicky's HEAD OF ISLAND BEAUTIFICATION FOR THE RURAL OUTLANDS, I hope you will because every chapter from "The Silence" to "Mask V" is poetry in prose. Though the work is fiction, the story is inspired by the personal history of Harrison Bird Brown and his family. To discover the difference between truth and fiction, join Maine's 2020 Reading Connection and award-winning author Jefferson Navicky on August 28 at 7 p.m. EST. For an invitation to Zoom with us, please email irenemdrago@gmail.com before noon on August 27.

Jefferson will be speaking about Ruth Moore and her poetry as a part of Ruth Moore Days on Mount Desert Island.

“Harrison Bird Brown in Fact & Fiction” with Earle Shettleworth, Jr and Jefferson Navicky

• Friday, June 23, 2023

• 6:00 PM 7:30 PM

• Northeast Harbor Library, 1 Joy Road, Mount Desert, ME, 04662 (map)

Join us for a lively conversation that interweaves history and fiction. Harrison Bird Brown of Portland was one of 19th century Maine's most successful marine and landscape painters. Maine State Historian Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr. will discuss Brown's career as it intersected with Mount Desert Island, based on his 2023 Chebacco article. Brown also served as inspiration for poet and archivist Jefferson Navicky who will speak about how Harrison Bird Brown and landscape painting inspired his latest book, Head of Island Beautification for the Rural Outlands. Sponsored by the Mount Desert Island Historical Society and the Great Harbor Maritime Museum. Free and Open to the public.

Due to space limitations, registration is recommended. The program will be recorded for later viewing on our website. Go to https://nehlibrary.libcal.com/event/10584897?hs=a to reserve your seat.

Jefferson will be reading with fellow poets Maya Williams and Maya Stein in Portland.

Jefferson will be at the Peaks Island Library on Saturday, May 13th @ 3pm to read and talk about Head of Island Beautification for the Rural Outlands.

Register for the workshop here.

This workshop is made possible by an American Rescue Plan/Maine Projects Grant sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, and administered by SPACE Gallery. Co-sponsored by Freeport Climate Action Now, and Freeport Conservation Trust.

UPDATE: And here are a few photos from the Freeport Workshop

The Bookey Readings at the Bailey hosts Jefferson Navicky and Pam Burr Smith at the Bailey Public Library in Winthrop, April 29th at 1 PM. Join us for a wonderful afternoon of some wonderful poetry.

Reclaiming the Prose Poem: An Introduction

• Saturday, April 15, 2023

• 10:00 AM 3:00 PM

• Online

A Poetry Workshop

ALL LEVELS

As poet Charles Bernstein once said, prose poems are often looked at with suspicion not only by the usual haters of poetry, but also by many poets themselves. And yet they contain so much possibility for expansion, for fun, and for subversion. This workshop will serve as a gateway into the joyously liminal form of the prose poem. We will look at a wide variety of prose poems across history including works by Charles Baudelaire, Russell Edson, Miho Nonaka, and Mary Ruefle. We will also write our own prose poems in a supportive environment. In so doing, we will make ourselves suspicious! Poets and prose writers of all levels welcome – prepare yourself to swim into the murky yet invigorating waters of the hybrid genre.

Jefferson Navicky is the author of four books, most recently the novel-in-prose-poems, Head of Island Beautification for the Rural Outlands (2023), as well as Antique Densities: Modern Parables & Other Experiments in Short Prose (2021), which won the 2022 Maine Literary Book Award for Poetry. Jefferson works as the archivist for the Maine Women Writers Collection

Book launch and reception for Jefferson Navicky's Head of Island Beautification for the Rural Outlands (2023) at Meetinghouse Arts in Freeport. Navicky will read from the book, engage in discussion with former Maine Poet Laureate Betsy Sholl, and take questions from the audience. Music will be provided by Eric Schwan. The event is FREE, — RSVP here.