April Authors at Baxter Memorial Library
Baxter Memorial Library is pleased to present a month of fantastic local authors, writing in a variety of genres. Books are available to check out at the library, and will also be available to purchase at the events. These and many other events are supported and sponsored by the Friends of Baxter Memorial Library!
April 10, 6 pm: Jennifer L.H. Smith
Are you ready for life’s journey? In a world full of change, it is necessary to develop and care for your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual muscles, not only to overcome struggles but to also live your best life. By taking steps to feed, exercise, and detox your whole being, you will also be taking steps to start healing your entire being.
Each of us has our struggles to face, both big and small. Our paths will be different and ongoing as we find the modalities that work, cross off the ones that don’t, and continue to climb up the ladder to ground you can firmly stand on.
In Warrior Fit, Jennifer takes you on a journey of her personal experiences and discoveries. Taking a holistic approach to fitness, she shares stories about letting go, finding peace, and reconnecting with yourself and the natural world around you. Her journey led her to the tools that strengthened her to face and overcome life-altering challenges.
It’s time to thrive.
April 18, 6 pm: Cheryl Gillespie and Lisa Beecher: A Conversation on Mental Health
Cheryl and Lisa will present a unique look at mental health care, including treatment, stigma, and the toll on patients’ families, etc., from both an historical perspective to present day. Cheryl is the daughter of a young woman who experienced involuntary hospitalization after three suicide attempts and displaying paranoid behavior in the fall of 1948 in Augusta, Maine. She was diagnosed with what was then called dementia praecox, now called psychosis. Lisa is the wife of a retired police officer who has experienced psychotic breaks more recently in Portland, Maine. They hope to talk candidly with their audience about what is and isn’t available for the mentally ill. They also will touch on things such as societal stigma, differences in attitudes between men and women, need for more training of people who deal with those coping with mental illnesses, and anything else that comes up in the discussion.
April 25, 6pm: Ed Judd
Edward Judd, a resident of Auburn who taught music in Lisbon for 22 years, will give a talk on his book, View from the Podium. Judd was also a marching band staff member at Edward Little High School for 10 years, and taught music at the Hillview Center in Lewiston.
The book is a memoir tracing Judd's 46 years as a music educator. Although Judd has been a high school music teacher for most of his career, the book also includes many of his experiences as a music teacher from elementary school through his time as Band Director at Holy Cross College. In addition, Judd, a former president of the Maine Music Educators Association, also relates his experiences in professional organizations as a leader on the state and regional levels. The book has been described as "heartfelt", "illuminating", and "an uplifting story told in a straightforward way".
Copies of Judd's book will be available, and he will autograph copies at the conclusion of the event.
May 1, 6 pm: Matt Cost (rescheduled from April 3)
Matt Cost, a.k.a. Matthew Langdon Cost, was a history major at Trinity College. He owned a mystery bookstore, a video store, and a gym, before serving a ten-year sentence as a junior high school teacher. In 2014 he was released and began writing. And that’s what he does. He writes histories and mysteries.
His Clay Wolfe/Port Essex series follows the highly lauded Mainely Mystery series by Cost. Acclaimed author Gerry Boyle selected the first in that series, Mainely Power, to be the Maine Humanities Council Read ME fiction book of the year.
Cost's historical fiction titles include Love in a Time of Hate, about a young man from Maine fights for social equality in New Orleans after the Civil War while pursuing a serial killer, becoming enmeshed in voodoo, and falling in love; At Every Hazard, which traces Joshua Chamberlain's evolution from an arrogant, overbearing professor to unwitting and unlikely hero and leader of men. Interwoven are subplots including the coming of age of his young orphaned aide, a complicated marriage, and of course, lots of rousing battle scenes; and I Am Cuba: Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution, a historically accurate novel detailing society, politics, war, and love in Cuba in the 1950s.