Fonkoze is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to providing microfinance services, literacy training, health education, and business skills development to women in rural communities across Haiti. Through these programs, they aim to create sustainable change and promote economic independence among some of Haiti’s most vulnerable populations.

Fonkoze will celebrate 30 years of giving back to Haiti by hosting a screening of the documentary Kite Zo A, winner of the 2024 Canadian Screen Award for Best Documentary Cinematography. The screening will be followed by a Q+A with the Film’s Producer Zach Niles, live music by Lakou Mizik and traditional Haitian food by Chef Alain Lemaire.

Admittance is free although donation is suggested, all proceeds will go to benefit Fonkoze’s continued work in Haiti. You can register by following this link.

Coming to Barnswallow Books this Fall is a celebration of Haitian culture through children’s literature, art and music. In celebration of 30 years of empowering women in rural Haiti, Fonkoze brings this celebration of Haitian culture to the community of Rockport, Maine.

• Haitian Storytime: Immerse your children in captivating tales that bring Haiti’s culture to life.

• Creative Coloring Activities: Kids can express their creativity while learning about Haitian traditions.

• Rara and Carnival Instrument Fun: Not only will your little ones learn how to pronounce the names of traditional instruments like a true Jacmel native, but they’ll also have the chance to play them.

This unforgettable celebration of Haiti’s spirit and traditions is designed to educate and inspire our future leaders. Bring the whole family for a morning of learning, laughter, and cultural discovery.

Reserve your and your child’s spot here.

On Saturday September 28 The Good Trouble Project will host a benefit concert for the Knox Clinic. The show will be hosted by singer-songwriters John and Rachel Nicholas with featured performer, poet and musician Dave Morrison. The Good Trouble Project was founded by the singer-songwriter duo as a means to ‘do something’ for their community by hosting intimate, fundraising concerts to benefit local organizations. The music series was named to honor the legacy of congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis.

The Knox Clinic has been providing free medical, dental, and mental health services to uninsured and underinsured neighbors in Knox County for 25 years. Now, in an exciting transition to a full community health center, the Clinic is expanding its services to reach even more people in need. A representative from the Clinic will be present to discuss its mission, these exciting changes, and the vital role it plays in supporting the health of the local community.

Many people know Dave Morrison as the manager of the Camden Opera House and as a local poet. Dave bought his first guitar at age 16, started playing clubs at 17, and for the next 20 years played clubs and concerts in Boston, New England, and New York. After a stint as a 40-year-old freshman at the New School Creative Writing program, he began to write poetry – his poems have been published in literary magazines and anthologies, and featured on Writer’s Almanac, Take Heart, and Poems From Here. His seventeenth collection, We Are Here and It Is Now was published in 2024 by Soul Finger Press. For the Good Trouble show, Dave will be performing his signature looped guitar/poetry mashup. 

The venue for the show is the barn attached to Barnswallow Books in Rockport Village which is generously donated by The Lesher Family Foundation, owners of the shop. The shop is located at 166 Russell Ave, across the street from the Library. Also, it should be mentioned that Tom O’Donovan at Harbor Square Gallery sponsors an honorarium for the featured performer. 85% of the proceeds go to the beneficiary organization.

Show starts at 7pm and admission is $15. Doors open at 6:30. Seats can be reserved by calling or texting John at 508-314-1506. If the weather is cool bring an extra layer - the barn has minimal heating. 

Our Pascal Hall Authors Series comes to a close for Summer 2024! Cocktails from 5-5:30, conversation from 5:30-6:30. A book signing and reception will follow. All events in this series are free and open to the public but registration is required. Click here for tickets!

 Jia Tolentino (August 27) is a staff writer at The New Yorker. Previously, she was the deputy editor of Jezebel and a contributing editor at the Hairpin. In 2023, she won a National Magazine Award for Columns and Essays. Her first book, the essay collection Trick Mirror, was published in 2019. 

 Tolentino will be in conversation with Morgan Lavoie, the C.O.O. and Editor in Chief of The Money News Network, where she is responsible for producing the network’s slate of content. Before MNN, she was at iHeartMedia, working on some of the company’s most popular podcasts. She is a Webby honoree. 

Goodnight Moonshine is a guitar and vocal duet, and a musical marriage in all senses. The Duo combines the evocative voice and songwriting of Molly Venter, with Eben Pariser’s adventurous guitar playing. The result is folk music with a depth of improvisation and tonal subtlety usually reserved for jazz. 

While Molly and Eben have been successful musicians separately, their combined talents leave nothing more to be desired. Their relaxed harmonies and obvious chemistry leave the listener impressed by the vulnerability of the artists and hopeful that such honest communication becomes the norm and not the exception – both for musicians and marriages.

Join us in the barn on Friday, August 16th from 7:30- 9:30. Tickets available for purchase here.

After spending 23 years at the University of Oxford as a student, faculty member, and ultimately full professor — where he was also Head of Graduate Studies for the Humanities Division and Director of Ertegun House — Rhodri Lewis moved permanently to Princeton in 2018. His interests lie principally in the literary, cultural, and intellectual histories of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. (He is uncertain when this period begins and ends, but sometimes feels sure that it must run from at least as early as 1453 to at least late as 1761.) Related preoccupations include bibliography and textual criticism; the status of drama as an idea and a series of practices, both theatrical and literary; the status of early modern English as a language informed by Latin and by other European vernaculars; the diffusion and decline of humanism as a cultural and educational ideology; the history of science, the history of religion, and the history of political thought; the frequently contested lines of demarcation between human and animal forms of life; the no less frequently contested status of “poetic” (and/or “literary”) language; the history of literary criticism.

In 2017, he published Hamlet and the Vision of Darkness, a critical re-evaluation of the most famous play of all. It was a Choice “Outstanding Academic Title” for 2018. His new book, Shakespeare’s Tragic Art, builds on his account of Hamlet to offer a powerfully original reassessment of Shakespearean tragedy in the round—of what drew Shakespeare toward tragic drama, what makes his tragedies distinctive, and why they matter. At the moment, he is at work on a life of the great literary critic Frank Kermode, whose papers are now housed in the Firestone Library; once done with that, he’ll be returning to the early modern world. His research has been supported by grants and fellowships from institutions including the Leverhulme Trust, the Mellon Foundation, the British Academy, the Huntington Library, and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Outside the academy, he writes for publications including The Times Literary Supplement, Prospect, The Literary Review, and The Los Angeles Review of Books.

Lewis will be interviewed by Donna Denizé,

Of Haitian American descent, Donna Denizé holds a B.A. from Stonehill College and an M.A in Renaissance drama from Howard University, where she was also a student of poet Robert Hayden, while he served as Consultant to the Library of Congress. She is currently earning her second Master’s, this time an MFA in poetry. She has contributed to scholarly books and journals, most recently an article on the sonnet and Claude McKay in the anthology, The American Sonnet(University of Iowa Press, 2022), and she is the author of a chapbook, The Lover’s Voice (1997) and a book, Broken Like Job (2005). She currently Chairs the English Department at St. Albans School for boys, where she teaches Freshman English, a junior/senior elective in Shakespeare, and Crossroads in American Identity, a course she designed years ago and which affords her the opportunity to do what she most enjoys—exploring not only the cultural and inter-textual crossroads of literary works but also their points of human unity.

Rhodri’s talk will be followed by a Q+A segment as well as a book signing. Barnswallow will have copies of his work for sale.

Our Pascal Hall Authors Series is in full swing for Summer 2024 with our third event! Cocktails from 5-5:30, conversation from 5:30-6:30. A book signing and reception will follow. All events in this series are free and open to the public but registration is required. Click here for tickets!

Emily St. John Mandel (August 6) is the author of six novels, most recently Sea of Tranquility, which has been translated into 25 languages and was selected by President Barack Obama as one of his favorite books of 2022. Her previous novels include The Glass Hotel, which was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and has been translated into 26 languages; and Station Eleven, which was a finalist for a National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award, won the 2015 Arthur C. Clarke Award among other honors, has been translated into 36 languages, and aired as a limited series on HBO Max. 

Mandel’s interviewer is Gibson Fay-LeBlanc, whose books of poetry are Death of a Ventriloquist and Deke Dangle Dive. He served as the City of Portland’s fifth Poet Laureate, ending a three-year term in 2018. He currently serves as executive director of the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. 

Our Pascal Hall Authors Series is in full swing for Summer 2024 with our second event! Cocktails from 5-5:30, conversation from 5:30-6:30. A book signing and reception will follow. All events in this series are free and open to the public but registration is required. Click here for tickets!

Andrew Sean Greer (July 23) won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Less, published in 2018. Its sequel, Less is Lost, was published in 2022. He is also the author of the bestseller The Confessions of Max Tivoli. Greer has taught at numerousuniversities, including Stanford and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, been a TODAY Show pick, a New York Public Library Cullman Center Fellow, a judge for the National Book Award, and a winner of the California Book Award and the New York Public Library Young Lions Award. 

Greer’s interviewers are Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman. Among Chabon’s prize-winning books are The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Wonder Boys, and The Yiddish Policemen’s Union. Recently he has worked as the showrunner for the Star Trek spin-off Picard with Patrick Stewart. Ayelet Waldman is the bestselling author of A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life; the novels Love and Treasure, Red Hook Road, Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, and Daughter's Keeper; as well as of the essay collection Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes. 

In 1936 “It Can’t Happen Here,” a play by Sinclair Lewis, opened simultaneously on 21 stages in 17 states on October 27, one week before that year’s presidential election as a warning against the rise of facism in America.

Barnswallow Books is happy to donate space to The Everyman Repertory Theatre as they present a reading of “It Can’t Happen Here-Again” in the Barn as homage to the 1936 production and a call to action, now, in 2024.

This event is free and open to the public, no registration is required.

The Maine House II moves beyond the authors’ cri de coeur; they’re on a mission. Through 25 homes—inshore, inland, and on islands— McEvoy, Burwell, and Hackett highlight the beauty and importance of preservation, restoration, thoughtful renovation, and low-impact living in the place they love the most.

From visionaries who saw home in a decommissioned lighthouse, a former hotel, and a boat shed to families resolutely leaving gen- erational homes largely untouched (some continuing to live off the grid) and still others honoring vernacular architecture by living with it in surprising ways, The Maine House II captures the myriad ways one can live in this singular place—in the present—while preserving the past and ensuring its future.

Kathleen Hackett spends her summers on the Midcoast. She has written more than two dozen books, including At the Artisan’s Table and Brooklyn Interiors, and contributes to Elle Decor, Architectural Digest, The World of Interiors, and Frederic magazine. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, and Rockport Village, Maine.

Kathleen will be interviewed by Lynn Boulger, former executive director of the Authors Guild Foundation.

Our Pascal Hall Authors Series kickoff for Summer 2024! Cocktails from 5-5:30, conversation from 5:30-6:30. A book signing and reception will follow. All events in this series are free and open to the public but registration is required. Click here for tickets!

Elliot Ackerman (June 25) is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels 2054, Halcyon, 2034, Red Dress In Black and White,  Waiting for Eden, Dark at the Crossing, and Green on Blue, as well as the memoir The Fifth Act: America’s End in Afghanistan, and Places and Names: On War, Revolution and Returning. His books have been nominated for the National Book Award, the Andrew Carnegie Medal in both fiction and nonfiction, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize,among others. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a Marine veteran who served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart. 

Ackerman’s interviewer is Alicia Anstead, a writer, editor, producer, and educator. She was previously executive editor of Inside Arts and of The Writer magazine. As an arts reporter at the Bangor Daily News in Maine, she won many awards for her writing. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Scientific American, and Art New England.  

Our Pascal Hall gallery will be filled with the tapestries of the late Morrie Dorenfeld (1937-2023) in a show entitled, The Light At the End of the Tunnel, what he called the last several tapestries he wove before he passed in February of this year.

A visual artist turned master weaver, Dorenfeld was known for his “paintings in fiber.” A Chicago native, he graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago, then lived in New York and New Hampshire before settling on Spruce Head in Maine in 1978 with his life-long partner, Robert Francis Davis.

A retrospective of Dorenfeld’s art was published earlier this year. The volume will be available for purchase and signing by author Christopher Brewer Williamson at the opening reception. The Light At the End of the Tunnel is curated by Ron Crusan, president of the Morris David Dorenfeld Foundation.

Opening Reception & Book Signing, Friday, September 29th from 5 pm to 7 pm

Monday, October 2 Gallery Talk

1 pm Author Christopher Brewer Williamson in conversation with Morris David Dorenfeld Foundation President Ron Crusan

Gallery Hours 10 am 2 pm on Saturday Sept 30 through Wednesday Oct 4 or By Appointment.

Contact Ron Crusan at: roncrusan@gmail.com or (207) 542-0837

View Dorenfeld’s work here.

Elissa Altman returns to Barnswallow to give a talk and signing for Motherland and her upcoming book, On Permission. Join us at 5pm for the talk and audience Q+A. The signing and reception will follow at 6pm.

This event is free and open to the public! Light bites and refreshments will be provided.

Painter Christopher Mir presents Miracles & Wonder at Pascal Hall to celebrate his recent return to Maine, where he grew up in Camden.

Mir has had five solo shows in New York (four at RARE Gallery and one at Benrimon Contemporary). In addition he has had four solo exhibitions in Europe: at Galeria Senda in Barcelona, Schuster Gallery in Berlin, and two at TM Projects in Geneva. Christopher's paintings have also been exhibited at MASS MoCA, the Yale University Art Gallery, the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, the Wadsworth Atheneum, and the deCordova Museum.

Major collections include the Yale University Art Gallery, Susan and Michael Hort, Simon Watson, Pamela Auchincloss, Matthew and Iris Strauss, Beth Rudin DeWoody, and Jeff Bezos.

Opening Reception Saturday, September 2 from 4 pm to 6 pm

Artist Talk Sunday, September 3 from 4 pm to 5 pm

Gallery Hours:

Monday, Sept 4th through Wednesday, Sept 6th - Noon to 3 pm

Thursday, September 7th, 10 am to Noon

View Mir’s art here.

The second in our 2023 Pascal Hall Authors Series events! Cocktails from 5-5:30, conversation from 5:30-6:30. A book signing and reception will follow.

Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Stacy Schiff will discuss her newest book, The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams. She will speak with journalist Robin Lloyd, who is also the author of two novels, Rough Passage to London and Harbor of Spies.

Our Pascal Hall Authors Series kickoff for 2023! Cocktails from 5-5:30, conversation from 5:30-6:30. A book signing and reception will follow. Event is free and open to the public but registration is required. Click here for tickets!

Shapiro, the Larry Miller Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, will be discussing Shakespeare in a Divided America, a New York Times “Ten Best Books of 2020” selection. He will speak with Caroline Bucks, the Stephen E. King Chair in Literature at the University of Maine.

Pascal Hall will host an open house to unveil a recently completed historic mural by local artist Peter Walls. Free and open to the public with refreshments.

BSB will be selling books at Lily King's talk/signing on behalf of the Rockport Library at the Rockport Opera House, starting at 6:30pm. For more info/tickets please visit the library's website.

BSB Barn - Laura Kipnis talk/book signing/reception. 5-7pm.

A reading/signing/conversation with Elissa Altman and Katherine May will take place on August 9th from 5-7pm at the BSB Barn. This event is free and open to the public. Register here.

Katherine May is the New York Times bestselling author of Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times. A writer of both fiction and nonfiction, May has had journalism and essays appear in a range of publications including The New York Times, The Times (London), Good Housekeeping, and Cosmopolitan. She lives by the sea in Whitstable, England and is an avid lover of the outdoors.

Elissa Altman is the critically-acclaimed author of the memoirs Motherland, Treyf, and Poor Man’s Feast. A member of memoir faculty at Maine Writers and Publishers Association and Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Altman was a recent finalist for the Maine Literary Award, Connecticut Book Award, and Lambda Book Award. Her work can be found in many publications, including On Being, Orion, O: The Oprah Magazine, the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Narrative, and beyond. She lives in Connecticut with her family.

Bestselling authors Katherine May and Elissa Altman will be leading a day-long Midcoast workshop on finding comfort and sustenance in impossible times on Monday, August 8th from 10am – 6pm at the BSB Barn. Tickets and registration here.

The full-day workshop, Finding Comfort and Sustenance in Impossible Times, will take attendees through conversation and exercises meant to help one navigate and transcend fallow times. The workshop will include a light lunch and a communal supper at the end of the day; the cost will be $350 US (ticket link coming soon).

Katherine May is the New York Times bestselling author of Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times. A writer of both fiction and nonfiction, May has had journalism and essays appear in a range of publications including The New York Times, The Times (London), Good Housekeeping, and Cosmopolitan. She lives by the sea in Whitstable, England and is an avid lover of the outdoors.

Elissa Altman is the critically-acclaimed author of the memoirs Motherland, Treyf, and Poor Man’s Feast. A member of memoir faculty at Maine Writers and Publishers Association and Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Altman was a recent finalist for the Maine Literary Award, Connecticut Book Award, and Lambda Book Award. Her work can be found in many publications, including On Being, Orion, O: The Oprah Magazine, the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Narrative, and beyond. She lives in Connecticut with her family.

Pascal Hall - Ted Widmer in conversation with Patricia O'Toole. Book signing and reception to follow. 5-7pm The event is free but space is limited, so please register here.

Pascal Hall - Lauren Groff in conversation with Slate's Laura Miller. Book signing and reception to follow. 5-7pm The event is free but space is limited, so please register here.

Miners Creek bluegrass band playing at BSB Barn. 4-6pm