Author announcement: Christian Potholm

Chris Potholm is DeSilva Alexander Professor of Government and Legal Studies at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.

He is the author of a dozen books on politics all over the world. His Just Do It! Political Participation in the 1990s is a look inside electoral politics in Maine and the nation. His An Insider's Guide to Maine Politics was published early in 1998. His most recent book is Winning At War.

Chris is the founder and president of Command Research, a national polling firm which for the last 20 years has polled in all of the 48 contiguous states. His clients include companies, institutions, interest groups and political causes.

Author announcement: Anne Sibley O'Brien

Anne Sibley O'Brien of Peaks Island, Maine, has illustrated thirty books for children, thirteen of which she also wrote. Her passion for multiracial and global subjects was kindled by being raised in South Korea as the daughter of medical missionaries. She illustrated Jamaica's Find (a Reading Rainbow selection) and six other Jamaica titles by Juanita Havill; Africa Is Not a Country (Children's Africana Book Award) and four other titles by Maine author Margy Burns Knight; and the just-released Moon Watchers: Shirin's Ramadan Miracle, by Maine author Reza Jalali. She wrote and illustrated The Legend of Hong Kil Dong: The Robin Hood of Korea (Aesop Award; Asian-Pacific American Award for Literature; Global Korea Award; and Booklist's "Top Ten Graphic Novels for Youth 2007"), and After Gandhi: One Hundred Years of Nonviolent Resistance (Maine Literary Book Award 2010), which she co-wrote with her son, Perry O'Brien. She blogs about race, culture and children's books at Coloring Between the Lines.

Author announcement: Mary Morton Cowan

Mary Morton Cowan is a graduate of Westbrook (ME) High School and Bates College. Her 2003 book, Timberrr… A History of Logging in New England, received Maine Library Association’s Lupine Honor Award. Her new book is Captain Mac: The Life of Donald Baxter MacMillan, Arctic Explorer, which tells MacMillan's adventurous story -- the vital role he played in Robert Peary’s 1908-1909 North Pole Expedition, his death-defying 1913-1917 expedition to northern Greenland, and his 1925 expedition which pioneered the use of radio and aircraft in Arctic exploration, and more!

A member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, nearly 70 of her articles and stories have been published in children’s magazines, and several have been reprinted in textbooks and anthologies. She lives with her husband near Sebago Lake, and enjoys hiking, camping, skiing, and spending time with her four grandchildren.

Author Announcement: Frances Bloxum

Frances Bloxam of Bath, Maine, is the author of three children’s books: Antlers Forever, Little Tom Turkey and Beau Beaver Goes to Town.  Each tells the story of a Maine wild animal and the dramatic and often hilarious process of growing up.  Written in lively rhyme, Frances’ books are perfect for the very young and also for the adults who enjoy reading aloud to children.  Her books have been read to Maine school children by Senator Susan Collins and are found in bookstores and national park gift shops throughout the United States.  Maine Fish and Wildlife Department personnel have used them in educational programs for children.  Frances devotes her time to book fairs, book signings, school programs and read-aloud programs at libraries throughout Maine and other states.

Although Frances’ first book was published in 2001 when she was 67, her entire life has embraced learning, literacy and helping children grow to be strong adults.  A Midwesterner, Frances’ mother was the town librarian – Frances’ library card number was 7.  Her father wrote informative, humorous columns for the local newspaper.  She has strong memories of another librarian, Ms. Jeanpert, who always spoke with her, not as a child, but as a person with her own thoughts.

Frances completed graduate work in Child Development, worked as a preschool teacher for many years and married a teacher.  Together they raised five children, who still quote Dr. Suess to each other.  (It drives their spouses crazy.)  The love of words, humor and rhyme continues in the grandchildren.

Frances has balanced her creative, home and family-based life with years of adventurous travel through dozens of countries, and with driving, camping and motorcycling trips in the US.

A reviewer says “Frances knows children well; their love of nonsense, their feeling for rhyme and rhythm”.  She believes in the value of the written word and the need to challenge children as they grow.

Recently, Frances received a Maine Literary Award in the Children’s Division for her recent publication Beau Beaver Goes to Town.

Author Announcement: Cynthia Lord

Cynthia Lord's debut novel, RULES was a New York Times Bestseller and has received numerous awards, including Newbery Honor and; the Maine Student Book Award. A former elementary and middle-school teacher, Cynthia spent a year teaching on a Maine island, which is the setting for her second novel (TOUCH BLUE, August 2010). Her first picture book, HOT ROD HAMSTER, was published in February and became a Publisher’s Weekly Bestseller. She lives with her husband and her two children fifteen minutes from the ocean in Brunswick, Maine. You can visit Cindy on the web at www.cynthialord.com.

Author announcement: Wesley McNair

Books in Boothbay: Maine's Summer Book Fair is proud to announce that poet Wesley McNair will be attending the festival this July.

Wesley McNair’s latest book is Lovers of the Lost: New & Selected Poems. He has held grants from the Fulbright and Guggenheim foundations, two Rockefeller Fellowships, an NEH Fellowship in literature, and two NEA fellowships. In 2006 he was selected for a United States Artists Fellowship of $50,000 as one of  “America’s finest living artists.” Other honors include the Devins Award for Poetry, the Jane Kenyon Award, the Robert Frost Award, the Theodore Roethke Prize, the Eunice Tietjens Prize from Poetry magazine, an Emmy Award, and the Sarah Josepha Hale Medal. A guest editor in poetry for the 2010 Pushcart Prize anthology, he has served four times on the nominating jury for the Pulitzer Prize in poetry. His work has appeared on NPR’s Weekend Edition and The Writer’s Almanac, with Garrison Keillor; two editions of The Best American Poetry; and over fifty anthologies. He has authored or edited eighteen books, including poetry, nonfiction, and anthologies.

Author announcement: Angeli Perrow

Here's another author coming to the Books in Boothbay Festival this summer:

Children's author Angeli Perrow  is the author of four picture books and a mystery novel for children. Her love of lighthouses and the history surrounding them led to the writing of Captain's Castaway, Lighthouse Dog to the Rescue, and Sirius the Dog Star, which are all based on true events at Maine lighthouses. The Lightkeeper's Key weaves Maine lighthouse legends into a page-turning mystery that thrills children with ghosts, a treasure hunt, a secret code, and lots of adventure. Her newest book, Many Hands, takes a different path as it relates the tale of a Penobscot Indian girl who dreams of being a master basket maker and learns the importance of community.

Angeli is an art teacher in Hampden, Maine, where she lives with her family. She is a former classroom teacher, newspaper reporter and editor and nautical products artist. She enjoys gardening, hiking, biking, Celtic music and Irish dancing.

Author announcement: Strange Maine author Michelle Souliere

Maine is well known as a land of fresh air and clean water, as the home of L.L. Bean and as one of the most popular camping and outdoor recreation destinations in the country. But what lies behind this idyllic façade? Unmapped roads. Whispering rocks. Deadening fog. Ghost pirates. Lonely islands. THINGS in the woods. This is the great state of Maine, home of Stephen King, land of the Great Northern Woods and all the mystery that lies within their dark footprint. What better setting than this for tales of strange creatures, murderers, madmen and eccentric hermits? From the “Headless Halloween of 1940” to the mystery of who lies in the grave of V.P. Coolidge; from the Bigfoot sightings to the “witch’s grave” in a Portland cemetery, writer and illustrator Michelle Souliere brings to life these strange-but-true tales from the Pine Tree State.

Michelle Souliere is the author and editor of the Strange Maine blog, winner of the Portland Phoenix’s “Best Blog” award in 2008 and 2009, and the Strange Maine Gazette, its print offshoot. She is the founder of the Green Hand Bookshop in Portland, Maine. She spends a portion of her time creating artwork for local display and publication, which includes drawing, painting and photography. She likes Maine very much.

Artist announcement: Jim Taliana

It's Tuesday, which means we're announcing another guest for this year's Books in Boothbay Festival.

Jim Taliana has had 14 one-person shows and has exhibited in watercolor, oils, India ink, photography and sculptures in welded metal, wood, and stone. Recently, he has illustrated three children’s books:  "The Littlest Tugboat," "The Seagull Who Refused to Be Ordinary," and "The Small Tall Ship," all available at most bookstores in Maine. Jim started and chaired the first annual statewide juried Maine Photography Show in 2006. He is a trustee and past president of the Boothbay Region Art Foundation and has been tutoring in art and conducting painting and drawing workshops for over 20 years, both in Maine and Michigan. Each July, he conducts a five-day outdoor painting workshop. Jim is currently represented by five galleries: The Ambleside Galleries in Greensboro, N.C., Cary Gallery in Rochester, Mich., Harlow Gallery in Hallowell, Boothbay Region Art Foundation in Boothbay Harbor, and the Maine Art Gallery in Wiscasset