The Camden Public Library announces the addition of a new reader for the popular Friday Explorations Read-Aloud Program. Every Friday at 11 a.m. on the library’s Facebook page and YouTube channel, the library will stream a brand new recording of local thespian Joseph Coté reading selections from a wide variety of fascinating and entertaining books of fiction and non-fiction.

“Joseph began reading aloud to our Friday group in person last winter,” says Programs Coordinator Julia Pierce. “His captivating voice and talent for engaging an audience quickly made him a favorite. Joseph has experience as a Shakespearean actor, and if you can’t go to see plays because of Covid-19, listening to a skillful orator read aloud is the next best thing.”

Coté grew up in Old Town. While a communications student at UMO, he moved up the ranks from dining room waiter to self-styled “entertainment manager” over three summers at Camden’s historic Whitehall Inn. By graduation in 1971, Coté was avidly plotting a life of travel, exploration, and story-gathering well beyond the waves of Camden Harbor. Following his graduate studies at Washington University in St. Louis, Coté explored the world “at someone else’s expense” for thirty-four years working in the international five-star hotel industry. After living in twenty-seven foreign cities from Marrakech to Shanghai, London to Sydney, Buenos Aires to Capetown, Paris to Singapore, and so many more, Coté retired to Camden in 2018.

Recordings of past readings can be watched any time in the “videos” section of the library’s Facebook page and Camden Public Library Programs YouTube Channel. To learn about upcoming books to be read aloud, visit librarycamden.org.

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