Friends of Merrymeeting Bay (FOMB) continues its 18th annual Winter Speaker Series with Chimney Farm: Words from the Watershed featuring poet Gary Lawless on Wednesday, February 11th at 7:00pm at Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick. The event is free and open to the public.

Chimney Farm on Damariscotta Lake was the Maine home of writers Henry Beston, Elizabeth Coatsworth, and Kate Beston Barnes. As Kate Barnes said, “the main crop of the farm was words.” Much of that writing was influenced by the natural world around the farm, now protected by the Damariscotta Lake Watershed Association. Speaker Gary Lawless has been caretaker at the farm since 1986, and will talk about, and read, from the works of these writers celebrating the natural world.

Gary Lawless is a poet, bookstore owner, book editor, and publisher, born in Belfast and living now in Nobleboro. He is co-owner of Gulf of Maine Books in Brunswick (with Beth Leonard) and owner of the publishing company Blackberry Books in Nobleboro. Lawless has been an adjunct professor at Bates College teaching creative writing and environmental literature and was a poet-in-residence for the town of Sitka, Alaska, and the National Park Service at Isle Royale National Park at Lake Superior, in 1998. Gary taught creative writing for five years in MSAD 75's adult education program and now teaches at Mid-Coast Senior College. During June and July of this year he will be artist-in-residence at Beech Hill Preserve, a Coastal Mountain Land Trust property.

FOMB hosts monthly lectures, film screenings, and other events around the Merrymeeting Bay area through May 2015 as part of our Winter Speaker Series. They are always free and open to the public and supported by Patagonia, Inc. in Freeport. All events take place on the second Wednesday of the month at 7:00pm at Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick unless noted. Next month’s presentation (March 11) Big Night: Rise of the Frogs & Salamanders, features wildlife biologist and herpetologist Dan Nein from the environmental consulting firm Stantec.

Visit www.fomb.org to see the full Speaker Series schedule, become a member, and learn more about how you can help protect beautiful Merrymeeting Bay.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Call Kathleen McGee, 666-3598
fomb@comcast.net

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