Community Event: The Telling Room’s Young Emerging Authors Book Release

What do an aggrieved lake monster, a teenage boy literally coming apart at the seams, a cat that is simultaneously dead and alive, and a tattooed death god have in common? They populate the four unique titles from this year’s Telling Room Young Emerging Authors program.

On Tuesday, August 20, from 3:30-5:00pm, join four young adult authors for short readings from a novel, a short story collection, a poetry collection, and a humorous book about quantum mechanics (yes, physics) for kids.

The Telling Room is a Portland-based nonprofit creative writing center that empowers youth through storytelling and shares their voices with the world. In the Young Emerging Authors program, four mentored fellows, ages 12-18, write, edit, and publish their own books in a single year. Past titles have won state and national recognition in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and the Maine Literary Awards. At this free and open event, learn more about the program and stay for a book signing and refreshments.

Quantum Mechanics for Kids: A Humorous, Easy-to-Read, Math-Free Book on a Very Perplexing Subject by Christopher Gilbert

When you look at particles smaller than atoms, things can get weird… very weird. You are transferred into a world where particles can be waves, waves can be particles, and atoms are “up” and “down.” This book will explore what seems like science fiction but is mathematically and scientifically sound. So, get ready to dive deep into a world where codes are unbreakable, computers use atoms to process data, and hypothetical cats are dead and alive: the world of quantum physics.

Christopher Gilbert is a 12-year-old sixth grader at Greely Middle School in Cumberland, Maine. He started learning about quantum mechanics from YouTube videos the summer between third and fourth grade. He enjoys writing, reading, math, and being outside in nature… and quantum mechanics.

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Songs in the Parking Lot by Catherine Morrissette

Songs in the Parking Lot is a poignant and often whimsical collection of short stories about the hidden worlds of young people. Meet a boy who says his heart is filled with bumblebees, a girl whose childhood is intertwined with the life of a toy cat, and a young alien-hunter awaiting an extraterrestrial visit. Flecked with magic, these stories illuminate the inner lives of protagonists who teeter on the edge of what they think should be adulthood and what they know is not. A tribute to the seriousness, playfulness, and nostalgia of childhood, from a promising new voice.

Catherine Morrissette attends Falmouth High School, where she spends time in classrooms with her school’s literary publications, in the library with the book club, and backstage in the theater. When not at school, she can be found on the ocean with her sailing team or at home with a pencil or book. She attended the New England Young Writers’ Conference at the Bread Loaf campus in 2018, and was previously published in local and state wide magazines, including the Telling Room’s 2019 anthology, Speak Up. She lives with her two parents, two brothers, and two golden retrievers.

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Twelve Dead Princesses by Eleanor M. Rasor

Eleanor M. Rasor’s novel Twelve Dead Princesses is a dark retelling of the classic fairy tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Shortly before Larka, soon-to-be-queen of Belmarros, comes of age, she and her eleven sisters fall ill. On the brink of death, they are saved by Sol, a tattooed stranger with powerful magic, and find themselves owing him a debt. Sol, however, is more than meets the eye, and he wants the princesses to dance for him at night in his otherworldly kingdom. As they dance, Larka finds it increasingly difficult to balance their secret visits, her responsibilities as future queen, and her growing attraction to Sol…

Eleanor M. Rasor, nicknamed Pie for long and complicated reasons, is a graduate of Yarmouth High School and plans to attend Mount Holyoke College, where she hopes to keep writing. She currently lives in Yarmouth, Maine with her parents, twin sister, and two disobedient but fuzzy cats. She’s been writing stories filled with things like magic, dragons, and girls with swords for almost as long as she can remember. When not writing, she can be found reading, swimming in the ocean, riding her bike, or over-analyzing action movies.

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An Open Letter to Ophelia by Lulu Rasor

Wicked stepsisters. Beautiful princesses. Heroic warriors. Everyone grows up on fairy tales and mythology populated by these characters, but what perspectives are omitted as these stories pass from generation to generation? An Open Letter to Ophelia gives voiceless women of ancient myth and medieval lore a chance to speak.

Poet Lulu Rasor asks what these witches, queens, saints, and monsters would say if given the chance, and how they would fit in the modern world. In prayer, sleepover confession, and love letters, this collection begins to imagine new sides to familiar and ancient tales.

A graduate of Yarmouth High School and student at Oberlin College, Lulu Rasor has been a lover of all things mythology since she can remember. When she’s not reading ancient epics to retell in her poetry, she likes to geek out over fantasy books, ice skate, and over-analyze action movies with help from her twin sister.