Join OLLI for a Special Event
Date/Time: Tuesday, March 10, 8:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Location: McGoldrick Center, salons A – C
USM Portland Campus
Fee: $25, includes a continental breakfast.
Hear author Ron Currie speak about his book in conversation with Franco-American poet Jeri Theriault. Plus, join in the discussion as Anna Faherty, archivist with the University of Southern Maine Franco-American Collection, and Ron Currie address, “What does it mean to be Franco-American today?”
Registration required. Find One Book listed under Special Events. Participants are asked to purchase or borrow a copy of the book.
About the Book
Set in Waterville, Maine, The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne is a crime saga like no other, with a ferocious matriarch at its bruised, beating heart. With sharp wit and profound empathy, award-winning author Ron Currie delivers an unforgettable novel exploring love, retribution, and the ancestral roots that both nurture and trap us.
About the Author
Ron Currie is the author of four novels and one collection of short stories. He has won the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Award, the Addison M. Metcalf Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Library Association’s Alex Award, and the Pushcart Prize. His books have been translated into 15 languages, and his short fiction and nonfiction have received recognition in Best American anthologies. As a screenwriter he worked most recently on the Apple TV+ series Extrapolations and has developed projects with AMC Studios, Amblin Television, and ITV America. He lives in Portland, Maine and teaches in the University of Southern Maine Stonecoast MFA program.
Reflective Writing
As an optional reflection on your reading, Currie has shared an essay prompt: “In what way has your family’s distant past had a direct effect on who you are?” Submit up to 500 words no later than February 24 and your essay may be selected to be shared at the event. Essays can be emailed to richard.cass@maine.edu.
Date/Time: Tuesday, March 10, 7 p.m.
Location: In person and via Zoom. 34 Bedford Street, Wishcamper Center room 133, USM Portland Campus.
Free! Open to non-members. Registration required; call the OLLI office at 207-780-4406.
Rick Steber, past-president of the Tin Mountain Conservation Center in Albany, N.Y., will discuss the nuances of birding in Greece in this special talk. Rick spent two months in Greece during April and May of 2024. He will talk about birding on the island of Crete and in northern Greece at Lake Kerkini.
This presentation will be more than just a slideshow of birds. Rick will share experiences gained in numerous habitats and regions, including the peculiarities and challenges of birding in Greece. If you have any plans for traveling and birding in Greece (or elsewhere) this talk is for you! Greece and its birds offer a unique world for anyone with a curious mind. Come and learn more about that world.
Since permanently relocating to the White Mountain region in 2013, Rick Steber has been an active member of the Tin Mountain Conservation Center where he has been a board member for nine of the last 10 years, serving as Board Chairman from 2018 to 2021. He recently retired from the board of directors. Originally from Watkins Glen, N.Y., he has had a lifelong interest in nature, conservation, and especially birds. These interests led him to SUNY College of Forestry at Syracuse University where he earned a BS in Engineering. For the past 50 years Rick and his wife, Jean, who now reside in Glen, N.H., have lived in eight different locations, most notably London, England.
Co-sponsored by the Hellenic Society of Maine.