PERU — The Rumford Public Library will host a reading by Maine author Lea Wait from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 14, in the public room.

The reading is in conjunction with the Local and Legendary: Maine in the Civil War project. It’s a collaboration among the Maine Humanities Council, the Maine Historical Society and the Maine Memory Network to engage communities in their Civil War history.

The project is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Resident Nick Waugh said that in the spring of 2014, five Maine communities were awarded a grant to start a Local and Legendary team.

Waugh serves on the Local and Legendary team, along with Rumford Public Library employees, Rumford Historical Society members and Regional School Unit 10 teachers.

After attending two days of orientation at Bowdoin College, Waugh and the other team members began researching local Civil War history and organizing events. Already held were a discussion of Gary Paulsen’s novel, “Soldier’s Heart,” between Mountain Valley Middle School students and veterans who work with the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office, and a poetry program at the Rumford Library for residents to discuss four Civil War-era poems.

Waugh said anybody who attends the reading is encouraged to read Wait’s book, “Uncertain Glory,” and be prepared to participate in a discussion with him.

“’Uncertain Glory’ is a brief but wonderful novel about how the outbreak of the Civil War plays out in Wiscassat, Maine,” Waugh said. “It is accessible to any reader from middle school and up, which makes it a book that many families can read together.”

Waugh said he sent an email to RSU 10 staff encouraging them to attend the reading.

mdaigle@sunmediagroup.net

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