The Acadian Archives, located on the University of Maine at Fort Kent campus, and Rivertown Community Arts Center are pleased to announce collaborative efforts to host events by poet Jeri Theriault.
On Friday, May 2nd, at 7 p.m., Rivertown will host readings by Jeri Theriault from her poetry book, Self-Portrait as Homestead, and to include other works. The event will feature musical accompaniment by her husband, Phil Carlsen, on cello. Self-Portrait as Homestead presents various speakers as the accumulated voice of one character who is girl-woman-mother-grandmother. These poems are inspired by Theriault’s family members. A Q & A session will follow.
“I met Jeri over 10 years ago and was impressed with the wisdom and richness of her poetry,” said Rivertown founder and co-chair Jenna Jandreau. “This program series will bring the best parts of life together – music, poems, art-making, good company, and exploring the power of people and place.”
On Saturday, May 3rd, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, Theriault will lead two workshops that focus on “mapping memory.” Participants will explore place-memories by first drawing their childhood home (or neighborhood) and then writing into the spaces created by these visual memories. No previous drawing or writing experience is needed. This activity will be held at the Acadian Archives on the UMFK campus. This event is free and open to the public.
“Jeri’s visit provides the perfect opportunity to celebrate our region’s Acadian and Franco-American heritage,” states Archives director Patrick Lacroix. “Jeri understands the importance of place in the lives of Acadians, and her workshop will help us cherish the home we have in the St. John Valley.”
From 1 to 3:00 p.m. on May 3rd, Theriault will guide a writing and paper collage session at the Rivertown Community Arts Center, located at 26 Market Street in Fort Kent. Participants are encouraged to bring a notebook and their favorite writing implement, along with memorabilia, favorite papers or magazines, and photographs to include in a collage (please note: bring photocopies of anything that you would not want to rip up and glue). Each workshop held on Saturday will cost $25 per person. Materials are included in the cost.
Registration is required for each of the three events. Please contact Rivertown to register or for more information at rivertowncac@gmail.com or (207) 231-2711.
Jeri Theriault grew up in Waterville, Maine, and graduated from Colby College, later earning an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her teaching career spanned thirty-four years, six of them as English Department Chair at the International School of Prague. She has published poetry collections and compiled and edited the anthology, WAIT: Poems from the Pandemic. She received the 2023 Maine Arts Commission Literary Arts Fellowship, the 2023 Monson Arts Fellowship, and the 2022 NORward Prize (New Ohio Review).