Richard Shain Cohen

Richard Shain Cohen of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, is originally from Boston. He retired from the University of Maine at Presque Isle after serving as Vice President of Academic Affairs and Professor of English. He holds B.S., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees.

He served as editor of the journal Husson Review and was principal participant in a National Endowment for the Arts Grant for “Images of Aroostook” that was exhibited throughout the State of Maine.

His latest book is Healing After Dark: The moving story of the beginnings of compassionate medicine in America; the memoir of a Medical Pioneer, Morris A. Cohen, M.D. and his Boston Evening Clinic, the first "after-dark" healing center in the nation. With recollections, introduction, epilogue, index by his son, Richard Shain Cohen, and edited by Richard Shain Cohen. Additional editing by Helen Compton.

His own publications, in addition to this book include: The Forgotten Longfellow: Man in the Shadows (2010), Only God Can Make a Tree, poetry from himself and his brother, Alfred Robert Cohen; and the novels Monday: End of the Week, Be Still, My Soul, and Petal on a Black Bough. He also wrote chapters for Aroostook: Land of Promise, academic reviews, other articles, and – with the help of a Shell Grant – a monograph on Samuel Richardson that can be found in major library holdings.

Aside from the present book, in progress is a fourth novel.

Cheryl Blaydon

Maine artist Cheryl Blaydon, best known for her seascapes in oil, has added a new dimension to her work with the creation of her first book, The Memory Keepers. This fictional memoir describes growing up in a household of loving Italian women who create a tapestry of their lives that is both humorous and poignant when all is revealed.

Interspersed throughout the book are images of the paintings created from Cheryl’s travels to Italy to honor her heritage. Published by North Country Press, the book is expected out at the end of May. To learn more, visit her at www.mainelyseascapes.com.

Karel Hayes

Award-winning children’s book author and illustrator, Karel Hayes, has a way without words. Her drawings and paintings have appeared in national exhibitions and a wide variety of magazines. She has illustrated numerous books, including Time for the Fair, and Who’s Been Here? A Tale in Tracks, and has both written and illustrated The Amazing Journey of Lucky the Lobster Buoy, The Winter Visitors, Snowflake Comes to Stay and The Summer Visitors. A master of watercolor, she also teaches painting workshops, and is a charter member of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC.

Karel, her husband, and Snowy, their Bichon Frisé, live in Center Harbor, New Hampshire.

Cathryn Falwell

Maine children’s book illustrator and author Cathryn Falwell was born in Kansas City, Kansas and grew up in the Midwest --Missouri, Wisconsin and Minnesota--before moving to Connecticut as a teenager. She received her BFA in Art from the University of Connecticut in 1975. After college, Ms. Falwell lived in New Hampshire for several years where she worked as a teacher and a graphic designer. Returning to Connecticut, she worked as an art director and designer for an award-winning graphic design firm. Five years later, she opened her own design business, specializing in institutional and corporate print design.

Ms. Falwell married Peter Mirkin in 1979. After their two sons were born, she decided to pursue the children’s book field--something she had wanted to do since the second grade. Her first picture book, Where’s Nicky? was published in 1991.

Ms Falwell and her husband live in Gorham, Maine. Their two children, now adults, live happy and creative lives.  In addition to writing and illustrating picture books, Ms. Falwell volunteers with community and social action groups, is an active member of a Unitarian church, and enjoys music, traveling, gardening, reading and hiking. Her studio overlooks Frog Song Pond, which has inspired several of her books. She visits schools and libraries to present interactive programs for children that celebrate books, creativity and imagination.

Harrison Thorp

Harrison Thorp is an award-winning reporter and editor who spent 20 years working at newspapers throughout Virginia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. Before becoming a career journalist, he spent time teaching high school English and working for Amtrak. While growing up in Massachusetts, his family spent summers on Southport. He currently lives in Lebanon.

Elisabeth Tova Bailey

Elisabeth Tova Bailey's natural history/memoir, The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, has received a National Outdoor Book Award in Natural History Literature and a John Burroughs Medal Award for Distinguished Natural History. The story of Elisabeth's year-long observations of a wild Maine woodland snail is finding a universal audience regardless of age, gender, or walk of life. But the book holds a particular interest for readers who love natural history and because the backdrop to the story is chronic illness, it is also finding a special home in the hearts of patients and medical professionals. Elisabeth lives in Maine.

Jim Nichols

Jim Nichols is a Maine native who lives in Warren with his wife, Anne. His work has been published in numerous venues, including Esquire, Portland Monthly, Zoetrope ASE, Narrative and Night Train. He is a past winner of the Willamette Fiction Award, and was awarded an Independent Artists Fellowship by the Maine Arts Commission. His collection Slow Monkeys and Other Stories was published by Carnegie Mellon Press in 2003, and his novel Hull Creek is just out from Down East Books.

Crash Barry

For more than a decade, Crash Barry worked as a print and radio reporter in Portland, Maine, specializing in his own style of undercover journalism. A recipient of a NEA and Maine Arts Commission Fiction Fellowship, he wrote the critically acclaimed Sex, Drugs and Blueberries, published in 2010.

Crash's latest book, Tough Island, will be released in June 2011. Illustrated by Patrick Corrigan, Tough Island retells the events of the two years Crash spent as a sternman on Matinicus, Maine's most remote island. Hes currently writing a non-fiction account of the first season of a secret, but legal medical marijuana farm in the hills of Maine.