ISLANDPORT PRESS

Buy Local: Islandport Bookshop 2017

Islandport Bookshop kiosk, in the Macy's Wing of the Maine Mall in South Portland, is open! Visit us to shop Islandport books in person. There's nothing like picking up a book and turning the pages before you buy. You'll be purchasing books created by authors and  illustrators who live, work, and play in Maine and New England. Islandport Press is a small, family business located in Yarmouth. Our Maine Mall kiosk makes buying local—convenient. Come say hello. 

NEW EVENT! Publishing 101: From Submissions to Sales

  Islandport Press Leaders To Give Writers Behind-the- Scenes Publishing Insights and Submission Tips

For many authors, writing the manuscript is only the first step on a long journey of completing revisions, querying agents, and winning an elusive contract. Between new technologies and cryptic rejections, publishing can be daunting.  On Tuesday, October 24, from 7 to 9:00 p.m. Islandport Press owner and publisher, Dean Lunt, and editorial director, Melissa Kim, will be your guides on the publication journey, presenting “Publishing 101: From Submissions to Sales” at the publisher’s headquarters at 247 Portland Street in Yarmouth.

“Every day, we hear from people who want to know how the publishing industry works,” says Melissa Kim. “So we want to share information to help aspiring writers navigate their way along the path to publication.”

Writers of adult and children’s manuscripts will get a behind-the-scenes tour of the Islandport Press office and warehouse followed by a tag-team lecture that will bring writers up to date on the current state of publishing and the changing ways that books are created, marketed, and sold. A question and answer period will follow the presentation. While no manuscripts will be accepted at this event, there is a manuscript/portfolio critique door prize that will be chosen at random. Advanced tickets are sold. Tickets at the door are $25.  

“With new technologies, the importance of the editorial process in traditional publishing has been blurred,” says Dean Lunt. “We’ll be discussing the differences between traditional and self publishing, and the pros and cons of working with a small press, along with other topics.”

Yarmouth-based Islandport Press is a dynamic, award-winning book and magazine publisher dedicated to telling stories rooted in the essence and sensibilities of New England. For more information, please call 207-846-3344, visit www.islandportpress.com or e-mail [email protected].

NEW! Open Book Workshop Series

 

Monthly Workshop Series Summer/Fall 2017

 

Celebrate lifelong learning with courses led by Islandport Press authors, illustrators, photographers, and industry professionals. Register for a workshop to discover a new craft or unlock a deeper appreciation for a favorite hobby. For more information call 207-846-3344 or email [email protected].

 

Storytelling with Photography with instructor Kevin Bennett

 

Where: Tea Room at Pineland Farms, New Gloucester

When:  Saturday, July 15, 2017; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Supplies: Please bring your own camera, your laptop with photo editing application, and have a USB stick to share your photos digitally.

Price: $200, includes brunch. Optional boxed meal available for purchase ($12)

Class will run with 10-15 students.

Photojournalism is the art of telling a story with images. If you have a working knowledge of your digital SLR camera and a photo editing application, but want to learn more about narrative, lighting, and composition, this workshop is for you. The class begins with brunch and lecture where you will meet the instructor, Kevin Bennett, and other participants, and learn the finer points of visual storytelling and photographic editing by analyzing images from the instructor’s portfolio. Throughout the day you'll shoot your own images. In the afternoon, you’ll edit and prepare images for a critique that reinforces the techniques presented.  

Kevin Bennett has traveled the state and country creating storytelling images of the people and events that have shaped our region as we know it. Based in Bangor, Maine, he has been a photojournalist for more than 20 years and a guest speaker at universities and colleges in the area.

 

 

Drawing Animals and Nature with instructor Jeannie Brett

Where: Gilsland Farm Audubon Center, Falmouth

When: Saturday, August 19, 2017; 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Optional meet-the-artist session.

Supplies: Please bring two different-sized sketchpads with high quality paper, graphite and colored pencils. Water colors, gouache, and pastels also welcome but not necessary. Bring a snack and thermos of coffee/tea/refreshment for a break and discussion of work.

Price: $100.

Class will run with 10-15 students.

Nests, feathers, fur—bring your sketchbooks and draw the natural world around you. With an emphasis on observation and process, participants will practice drawing from reference. Artists will use photographs and observational techniques to break down complex flora and fauna into simple structures that anyone can draw. Instructor Jeannie Brett encourages participants to create without judgement.

Jeannie Brett, the illustrator of My Cat, Coon Cat (Islandport Press, $12.95) and fourteen other books, and the author/illustrator of Wild About Bears and Little Maine, attended the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Brett has lived in Maine for more than four decades and now spends several months in the wilds of Montana. She enjoys spending her free time with her family and pets and keeping an eye out for wildlife. www.jeanniebrett.com

 

 

Travel & Food Writing: Turn Your Travels into Tales of Wonder with instructor Erik Ofgang

In partnership with AARP

Where: AARP conference room, 53 Baxter Blvd #202, Portland

When: Friday, September 15, 2017; 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Supplies: Bring your favorite writing tools and/or a laptop if you use one regularly.

Price: $60 General public tickets go on sale July 1, $50 AARP Member tickets go on sale June 1

Class will run with 20 to 30 participants.

Travel and food writing assignments are some of the most glamorous and popular in journalism, but they can be surprisingly difficult. Whether you imagine your stories on the glossy pages of a travel magazine, or published on your blog, or social media sites, this workshop will provide tips on crafting engaging, informative travel, and food prose. Workshop participants will use the tips to write a short article based on a recent travel or dining experience.

Erik Ofgang, author of Buzzed: Where to Enjoy the Best Craft Beverages in New England, is an award-winning freelance writer whose work has appeared in Connecticut Magazine and the Hartford Courant. He is the founding editor of Poor Yorick: A Journal of Rediscovered Objects, a literary journal published by Western Connecticut State University’s MFA in Creative and Professional Writing program.

 

 

Green Your Kitchen with Great Recipes with Christine Burns Rudalevidge

In partnership with AARP

Where: University of Maine Regional Learning Center, 75 Clearwater Drive, Falmouth

When: Friday, October 13, 2017; 11 a.m.  to 1 p.m.

Price: $65 General public tickets go on sale July 1, $55 AARP Member tickets go on sale June 1 (price includes a copy of Green Plate Special.)

Class will run with 20 to 30 participants.

Whisk sustainable eating practices into familiar, tasty recipes even though you are short on time, money, and energy. As Chef Christine demonstrates how to prepare a delicious menu of recipes from her cookbook Green Plate Special, she’ll also give you insider tips on how to tweak your own recipes to make them leaner, meaner, and cleaner. The workshop ends with a tasting!

Christine Burns Rudalevige ran a farmers market in Pennsylvania, founded the Family Fish Project website, and worked as a lead culinary instructor at Stonewall Kitchen. The dedicated recipe tester and food writer has credits in regional and national media outlets, from NPR to Cooking Light. She is the author of Green Plate Special  (Islandport Press, $24.95).

 

If a class is cancelled for low attendance, refunds will be issued.

The Open Book Workshop Series is brought to you by: 

 

 

Father's Day Gifts for Book Lovers

Father's Day is coming up quickly (Sunday, June 18)! If shopping for your Dad is a challenge, we have a few book suggestions to help:

1. For the mystery fan

Straw Man, by veteran mystery writer Gerry Boyle, won the 2017 Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction and is said to be one of the best of the Jack McMorrow series. A thinking person's mystery, the thrilling story takes readers into territory ripped from today's headlines — illegal gun sales, culture clashes between old and new, cyberbullying, and the random violence that poses a threat to even the closest of communities. Prosperity, Maine is no longer the refuge from the real world that it once was, and Jack, and his wife, Roxanne, will be forced to face what might be their most destructive enemy yet—each other.

2. For the Dad who loves history

Forever Yours Bar Harbor, which features historic postcard images of Mount Desert Island and Acadia, is a favorite among Maine travelers who want to delve deeper into the area's fascinating past. Written by Earl Brechlin, a Bar Harbor resident, registered Maine Guide and editor of Mount Desert Islander, the book provides illuminating details, tidbits of Maine lore, and information about how modern day Mount Desert Island compares with each scenic postcard. 

3. For the vintage car lover

Called "a book of treasures" by an Amazon reviewer, photographer David Hill's Full Service explores the woods and back roads of Maine, where he finds beautiful and largely forgotten cars from the "golden age" of the automobile. Beautiful, to Hill, doesn't mean fresh paint and polished chrome. It means cars and trucks with stories to tell and histories to share. Complete with memorable images and personal essays, Full Service chronicles Hill's journey back to the past, to give these worn and weathered pieces of Americana a chance to be remembered. 

4. For the Dad who appreciates craft brews

Buzzed taps into New England’s burgeoning craft beer industry, coffeehouse culture, and new world of craft distilling. With an everyman perspective and sharp wit, award-winning food and travel writer Erik Ofgang takes readers on a tour of New England’s booming craft beverage scene. Focusing on craft beverage clusters — areas where breweries, distilleries, and coffeehouses can be found in close proximity to one another —Buzzed is packed with inside information gathered from brewers and distillers, as well as bar trivia facts, historical tidbits, and Ofgang’s smart observations.   

5. For the Dad with young children

Hold This!, an award-winning picture book written by Carolyn Cory Scoppettone and illustrated by Priscilla Alpaugh, is a story with heart. A girl named Mika and her dad go for a walk, experiencing the sensory wonder of the woods. As Mika asks her father to hold her found treasures, he urges her to carry only what she is able to hold. With every step, Mika discovers more and more, and learns to pick herself up after a fall. But the real discovery for Mika and her father arrives at the end of their walk, when they realize the best treasure is a hand to hold. This is the perfect book for dads to read with their children. 

 

Need more great book ideas? Visit our online bookshop. 

   

 

 

 

The Best is Yet to Come

Our small business is growing and changing in ways we never imagined. For that reason, we've decided to hit the refresh button on the blog. We're moving over to a new platform and adding some exciting content in the coming year, all while keeping in mind what our readers enjoy most. Many thanks to all of you who have followed the Islandport Press blog since its inception in 2007. We look forward to sharing more great book and author news with you in 2017!

 

 

PS: Our top 5 blog posts of all time, if you'd like to see: 

1. New Kate Christensen Book to Launch in 2015

2. Lisa Belisle seeks to inspire with "Our Daily Tread" in Bar Harbor

3. Top Five Places in Bar Harbor

4.  "How to Cook a Moose" Cover Reveal

5.  List time! Top ten tips on how to submit a manuscript to Islandport Press