The Lewiston Public Library plans to host a three-session discussion project via a multi-session facilitated text-based group.

“What if community is the key to our resilience?” will be facilitated this spring by author and facilitator Samara Cole Doyon, according to anews release from Harper Chance with Teen Services.

The program will focus on “The Water Knife” by Paolo Bacigalupi, “Vigil Harbor” by Julia Glass, and “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler. Participants can engage with each other and discuss the big questions that impact all: What if humanity is both its own nemesis and savior? What if we read these texts as both a parable about our present and a warning for our future? What if the future is ours to collectively create?

The group will meet 5:30-7 p.m. Tuesdays, March 14 and April 4, in the library’s Jeanne Couture Room at 200 Lisbon St., and culminate on Tuesday, April 25 in a tri-community discussion of “Parable of the Sower,” bringing together groups from Bangor Public Library, Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick, and the Lewiston library.

Doyon is an educator, facilitator and children’s book author. The Lewiston resident’s debut picture book, “Magnificent Homespun Brown,” won both a Lupine Award and an International Literacy Association Award. She has been offering author presentations and leading literary discussion groups and writing workshops since 2020, works as a membership and program coordinator at Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance.

This discussion project program is part of Parable Path Maine, a framework for community organizing and artistic engagement based on Octavia E. Butler’s “Parable of the Sower.” This initiative is led by multi-hyphenate musician Toshi Reagon, Bowdoin College’s Joseph McKeen 2022-23 Visiting Fellow, and is supported by Maine Humanities Council, Indigo Arts Alliance and Bowdoin College.

In addition to this discussion project and other community events across the state, Toshi and Bernice Reagon’s congregational opera adaptation of “Parable of the Sower” will be performed at 7 p.m. Friday, April 14 at Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle St. in Portland. This one-night only event is presented by Indigo Arts Alliance and Portland Ovations in association with Bowdoin College. For tickets, visit porttix.com.

This program is free. Books are provided. Space is limited.

For more information and to register, contact the library’s Adult & Teen Services Department at 207-513-3135 or lplreference@lewistonmaine.gov.

 

 

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