Le petit rassemblement des artistes Franco-Américain: A celebration of modern expression

The Franco-American Collection at the University of Southern Maine invites you to join us at LA Arts, 168 Lisbon Street in Lewiston on Saturday, November 1, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. for a half day event featuring a panel discussion of Franco-American creatives led by Charles Gargiulo, Abby Paige, Robert Perreault and Susan Poulin. To begin the event, Dr. Paul Buck from the University of Maine Fort Kent will present a talk on borders and boundaries. The event is free and open to the public, thanks to our generous sponsors, Hilton Garden Inn Auburn Riverwatch, Schooner Estates, TV5MONDE, and the Quebec Delegation in Boston.

Dr. Buck’s presentation will open the event at 1 pm. Following the presentation there will be time for a Q&A as well as a break to mingle and enjoy refreshments. At 2:30 p.m., the panelists will present about their creative processes and how their Franco-American identity and heritage informs their craft, and about crossing cultural, linguistic and other borders and boundaries in their writing.

Paul Buck is a Professor of History and Education at the University of Maine at Fort Kent. He has a doctorate in U.S. and Canadian history from the University of Maine, which he completed in 2008. Paul is proficient in English, French, Spanish, German, Russian, and Wolof. He has either studied or taught over the course of four academic years in French Canada (Québec City), Russia (Voronezh), and Senegal (Dakar). Paul enjoys participating in his adopted community of St. Agatha, particularly in local organizations that promote and celebrate the French language and the Acadian and Franco-American culture of the St. John Valley.

Paul will speak about different perspectives of Maine statehood and of Maine culture as seen through the prism of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842, which definitively established the boundary between British North America and the United States. Paul will explore the treaty and its impact on the singular Acadian and Francophone community of the St. John Valley, which found itself split into two countries. Paul will give historical context as well, most certainly commencing with the long-standing Maliseet and Mi’kmaq communities of the region, along with Scots-Irish and, by the 1820s, of Maine Yankee residents.

Our panelists are:

Charles Gargiulo is the author of Legends of Little Canada, a memoir told through the voice of his 13 year old self in the 1960’s as he watched an urban renewal plan destroy his world by forcibly displacing his family and friends from their poor but tight-knit French-Canadian neighborhood in Lowell. The book gives witness to the final days of the community around Moody Street that Jack Kerouac recalled in many of his Lowell stories. His writing has appeared in Resonance, Merrimack Valley Magazine, the Lowell Review, the New Lowell Offering and the book compilation “Atlantic Currents: Connecting Cork and Lowell.” Following the destruction of Lowell’s Little Canada, Charlie grew up in public housing. After serving in the military, he graduated summa cum laude from University of Massachusetts Lowell. He became a legendary community and human rights activist and stopped forced displacement efforts like Little Canada from happening to others. In 2019, he was honored by the International Institute as one of the 100 most important figures in Lowell history who has worked on behalf of the city’s immigrant population. About his book, Legends of Little Canada, Kevin Ring, the publisher of Beat Scene Magazine, says: “I can put my hand on this old heart of mine and safely say Kerouac himself would have laughed and cried and absolutely loved this book.”

Abby Paige is a writer and theater artist whose work often explores the influence of French-Canadian culture in northern New England and the shifting borders between places, languages, and identities. Her book Piecework / Travail à la pièce, published by the University of Maine Press in 2025, collects in a single bilingual volume her two solo shows, Piecework: When We Were French and Les filles du QUOI?. Abby is Drama and Book Review Editor for the Franco-American literary journal Résonance, and her poems and other writing have appeared in publications in Canada and the U.S., including the 2020 Best Canadian Poetry Anthology. She currently lives in Vermont, where she was born and raised.

Since 1973, Manchester, N.H. native and lifelong resident Robert B. Perreault has worked in various capacities to promote Manchester’s history and New England Franco-American culture. His works of nonfiction and fiction, written in French, in English or in both languages, include seven books and more than 175 articles, essays, short stories, etc., published in the U.S., French Canada or France. He is the author of a French-language novel, L’Héritage (1983), whose setting is Manchester’s Franco-American community; Postcard History Series: Manchester (2005); and Franco-American Life and Culture in Manchester, New Hampshire: Vivre la Différence (2010). His most recent book featuring his original photos of Manchester from 1971 to 2005, entitled Images of Modern America: Manchester, was published in 2017 by Arcadia Publishing in Charleston, S.C. His eighth book, a forthcoming novel (11/7/25), is entitled Courtship in Purgatory. In addition to his writing, Perreault conducts sessions in conversational French in the Native Speaker Program at St. Anselm College and lectures on various topics related to local history and Franco-American history and culture with N.H. Humanities.

Selected by Portland Magazine as one of the “Ten Most Intriguing People in Maine,” award winning writer and performer Susan Poulin is the author of fourteen plays, seven of which feature her alter ego, Ida LeClair, “the funniest woman in Maine.” She writes the popular weekly Maine humor blog and podcast, Just Ask Ida, and is the author of Finding Your Inner Moose: Ida LeClair’s Guide to Living the Good Life and The Sweet Life: Ida LeClair’s Guide to Love and Marriage published by Islandport Press. As well as creating and touring her own work, Susan travels the country as an actor/improviser and facilitator for PowerPlay, a professional applied theatre company based at the University of New Hampshire. In May of 2019, during a joint session of the Maine State Legislature, Susan was inducted into the Franco-American Hall of Fame in honor of her body of work and promotion of Franco-American cultural identity. Check out her popular TED Talk about growing up Franco-American at TEDxPortsmouth.com. She continues to be a leader in bringing a female voice to New England storytelling and humor, and sharing the healing power of laughter with audiences statewide and beyond.

This event will be held at LA Arts’ downtown Lewiston venue on Lisbon Street. Parking is available on the street or in the Canal Street Garage, the Centerville Garage, or the Oak Street Garage. The event will be recorded, and those unable to join us in-person can do so via Zoom. Interested in joining on Zoom? Email Anna for more information!

For in-person attendance, registration is required. We ask that you RSVP one week ahead of the event!

For more information or to register for this event, contact the FAC archivist, Anna Faherty at anna.faherty@maine.edu or by phone (207) 753-6545. If you have questions about disability access or need to request disability accommodations (e.g. sign language interpreters, materials in electronic format, etc.), please contact Anna. Requests should be made as soon as possible to allow sufficient time for the accommodation process.