Conversations From the Pointed Firs

This month on Conversations from the Pointed Firs, host Peter Neill sits down with Siri Beckman, visual artist, wood engraver, print maker, and co-author of the new book "The Prints of Siri Beckman: Engraving a Sense of Place." Beckman, born in Chicago, Illinois, moved to Maine in 1975, and was called to wood engraving quite by accident, and has been practicing the art form for more than forty years. Beckman’s early wood engravings are strongly influenced by her surroundings and daily life in the Maine fishing town of Stonington where she lived. She recently moved to Bath, Maine, where she continues to maintain her studio.

This month on Conversations from the Pointed Firs host Peter Neill sits down with Kristie Billings. A wearer of many hats, Kristie is a long-time DJ for ‘Daydream Nation’ on the WERU Community Radio in Orland, Maine. From small-town grocery clerk to working in a fish market, owning her own shoe store, being an Arts Educator at a local theater, a lobster fisher, and an antiques seller, Kristie has done it all. Kristie comes from a long line of lovers of the sea: fishermen, clamdiggers, and sardine packers. The ocean is home. She is a poet, a photographer, and a year-round swimmer. She is currently living in Ellsworth, Maine, and a native of Stonington, on Deer Isle in downeast Maine. A great lover of music, art, and life, Kristie is drawn to beauty, even in the ordinary, the mundane and the unnoticed. Her latest book, "Sea Witch: Photographs, Poems and Forget Me Nots from a Mainer Growing Up" (Seaport Books, Nov 2023) is filled with images and words of the sea, nature, folk art, dolls, loss, grief, love, acceptance, rage, music, and life.

This month on Conversations from the Pointed Firs, host Peter Neill sits down with Gary Lawless, poet, bookstore owner, book editor, publisher, and educator. He has published many books of poetry and co-owns Gulf of Maine Books in Brunswick and owns Blackberry Books Publishing in Nobleboro. He has run writing residencies in Newfoundland, Alaska, Italy, and Maine, and community writing workshops for adults with disabilities, unhoused, refugee and immigrant populations, and veterans groups.

Our guest this first month of 2024 on Conversations from the Pointed Firs is LAUREEN LABAR, recently retired curator at the Maine State Museum and author of "Maine Quilts: 250 Years of Comfort and Community", published in 2021 by Down East Books. She and Peter discuss quilts and quilting in Maine, as an example of unique craft, history, and social engagement invoking the spirit of Maine.

This month on Conversations from the Pointed Firs host Peter Neill sits down with Sarah Alexander, Executive Director of MOFGA (the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association.) Sarah has been in her position since, 2018, and has over 20 years of experience advocating for sustainable, local and fair food systems. This year MOFGA is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its founding. Peter and Sarah discuss the historical moment of MOFGA's inception, the state of farming in Maine, and what MOFGA might become over the next 50 years.
Conversations from the Pointed Firs is a monthly audio series with Maine-connected authors, artists and innovators discussing books, art and creative projects that invoke the spirit of Maine, its history, its ecology, its culture, and its contribution to community and quality of life. Online at pointedfirs.org