AUBURN – The Auburn-Lewiston Art and Literature Club will meet at 2 p.m. Monday, Nov. 8, at the Woman’s Literary Union, Elm Street.

Author James L. Nelson will discuss the path from Lewiston High School to a working novelist, by way of television editor, aspiring film director, tall ship sailor and the many other diversions he has experienced, along with the myths and realities of life as a working writer. A question and answer period and a book signing will follow.

Nelson was born in Lewiston. His interest in ships and the sea began early, reading “Hornblower” and building ship models. In high school Nelson built a 15-foot sailboat and, with a friend, an 18-foot canoe.

Nelson graduated from Lewiston High School in 1980. After a year of hitchhiking and motorcycling around the country, he attended the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, later transferring to UCLA Film School, from which he graduated in 1986.

After working in the television industry for two years, Nelson realized that he could not stand the industry, Los Angeles and being ashore. In 1988 he joined the crew of the Golden Hinde, a replica of Sir Francis Drake’s vessel of 1577.

Leaving the Hinde in Houston, Texas, he worked aboard the brig Lady Washington and the ship HMS Rose, which he sailed aboard for two years.

In 1993 Nelson married Lisa Page, a former shipmate aboard the Golden Hinde. The following year he finished “By Force of Arms,” his first book. Nelson has been a full-time novelist since then, with 12 books either published or in the process of being published. His books have sold in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy. The Nelsons and their three children live in Harpswell.

Hostesses for the meeting will be Jackie O’Donnell, chairwoman, Jackie Daunis, Mildred Dumais and Ginny Gagne.


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