LEWISTON – Maine poet Wes McNair will speak at the Great Falls Forum Feb. 17 on “Poems of Our Climate: People And Places In Small-Town Maine.”

Of his art McNair has written, “When I write about my home place of New England, as I often do, I don’t want to portray a nostalgic world elsewhere, but the place as I know it, with its dislocated culture, its poverty, its eccentrics, its broken dreams, and its hopefulness.”

Among McNair’s awards are the prestigious Sarah Josepha Hale Medal, which also was awarded to Robert Frost and May Sarton, among others.

In 2003, McNair published “The Maine Poet,” an anthology of poetry in Maine from Longfellow to the present.

In 2002, he published two books: “Fire,” a collection of poems, and “Mapping the Heart,” essays about poetry and place, and served on the jury for the Pulitzer Prize for poetry.

McNair has received many fellowships, including a Fulbright and two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships for Creative Writers.

McNair has been a visiting professor in creative writing at Colby College and retired from the creative writing program at the University of Maine at Farmington, where he received the Distinguished Faculty Award and the Libra Professorship.

Great Falls Forum lunch is $7 with preregistration, $10 at the door if space is available.

Please make reservations by calling Jeanne Lachance at 689-2843, on or before Tuesday, Feb. 15.

The Great Falls Forum is a monthly public platform for thought-provoking speakers and discussion. Everyone is welcome. A question-and-answer period will follow the talk.

Copy the Story Link