NEA Big Read | One-night Book Club with Gibson Fay-LeBlanc @ Mechanics’ Hall
Join us in the historic Mechanics’ Hall Library for a one-time book club facilitated by Gibson Fay-LeBlanc, the Executive Director of the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. ASL interpretation available by request.
Whether you’re familiar with Kaminsky’s work or new to his poetry, this event offers a unique opportunity to reflect on art and silence as tools of resistance and the power of human connection in difficult times. Come for the poetry, stay for the conversation.
Complimentary copies of the book can be picked up at Mechanics’ Hall and SPACE Gallery.
Tea and snacks will be provided. This event is free and open to the public. Space is limited so please register in advance.
SPACE Gallery & Mechanics’ Hall are hosting collaborative programming, reading groups, and workshops around Ilya Kaminsky’s book of poems Deaf Republic. This series explores themes of community loss, accessibility, silence as resistance, love in the face of violence and war, and artists exploring deafness and tinnitus.
Gibson Fay-LeBlanc’s first collection of poems, Death of a Ventriloquist, won the Vassar Miller Prize and was featured by Poets & Writers as one of a dozen debut collections to watch. His second book, Deke Dangle Dive, was published by CavanKerry Press in 2021. Gibson’s poems have appeared in magazines including The New Republic, Tin House, Narrative, Poetry Northwest, and Orion. With graduate degrees from UC Berkeley and Columbia University, Gibson has taught writing at conferences, schools and universities including Fordham, Haystack, and University of Southern Maine, and helped lead community arts organizations including The Telling Room, SPACE Gallery, and Hewnoaks. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance and lives in Portland with his family.
https://www.instagram.com/mainewriters207
PARKING & TRANSPORTATION
Mechanics’ Hall is located at 519 Congress Street. Our main entrance is between Loquat Shop and the Art Mart. The Greater Portland Metro’s Congress & Casco Street Stop is directly in front of our building, served by routes 1, 7, 8, and 9B.
Parking is available at the Arts District Garage, which has entrances on Casco and Brown Street, with a rate of $5 per hour. Metered street parking is available on Congress, Casco, Cumberland, Free Street, and other nearby streets. Free hourly street parking is available between Parris and Alder Street.
ACCESSIBILITY
To enter our building, patrons will need to navigate a single step. There is a wheelchair modular ramp available upon request and an elevator with a 3′ width.
If you have questions please contact us at programming@mainemechanics.org or 207-773-8396.
This program is made possible as part of the NEA Big Read in partnership with Mechanics Hall, a program administered by Arts MidWest on behalf of the National Endowment for the Arts.
