Michelle Souliere

Michelle Souliere is an artist/illustrator, and is the editor of the Strange Maine Gazette and its companion blog, which she founded in 2005. In 2010 she wrote and illustrated her first book, Strange Maine: True Tales from the Pine Tree State. She is a graduate of the Maine College of Art.

In 2009 she founded the Green Hand Bookshop here in Portland, which has been her main focus ever since. The Green Hand is a general used bookshop whose contents are curated by Michelle to encourage curiosity. The shop also serves as a nexus for folks in the Longfellow Square neighborhood, at a location that connects Portland's West End, Parkside, and Arts District neighborhoods. The Green Hand is peopled with many books, and Michelle herself.

In the past, she has enjoyed working at Portland Public Library and volunteering at the Maine Historical Society. She is a longtime resident of the West End and Parkside neighborhoods. She currently lives in an all-artist building in Parkside, thanks to a great program run by the City of Portland.

She has a deep love for Portland, and Maine in general, and has a hard time imagining herself living anywhere else. Both city and state provide her with an inspiring backdrop and foundation on which to build her creative work.