Wednesday 30 January 2013

May gathering


The temperatures dip, so let us prepare for spring!

In the spirit of our gatherings from the past two years, the Franco American program at UMaine invites you to join with other writers and artists in a weekend of reading, performance, presentation, and discussion.  

We’re excited to create once more a space for meeting old friends and new, and for coming together around our creative expressions – whatever form they might take.

Our gathering will be held at the Darling Marine Center in Walpole, Maine, the weekend of May 17, 18, and 19, 2013.

We will begin Friday evening with dessert, an opening presentation, and a roundtable discussion.
Saturday will be devoted to you and your work. It is once again our hope that this gathering can be a safe space for participants to share their own projects and receive feedback. You’re invited to bring any kind of creative work you’re willing to share with the group. Everyone will have an opportunity to present for an equal, set amount of time. To give you an idea of our program, last year’s gathering was filled with poems and short fiction, storytelling and dramatic pieces, slideshow presentations, novel excerpts, music, short film, and the conversations they sparked.

A Saturday night soirée is not out of the question. Bring your instruments!

We’ll conclude on Sunday with breakfast and a wrap-up discussion.

The program is free for you. We will be paying for room and board for all of you who would like to join us and we will not be asking for money at the event. If you are able to spare, however, we ask that you consider sending a donation to help make our gathering an annual event. This will be our third consecutive year; we hope for many more.

All donations are tax-deductible and can be made through the Franco American Studies program website (http://umaine.edu/francoamericanstudies). Click on the “give now” button near the top; we can be found under the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Please let us know by Monday, April 15 if you will be joining us, and if you intend to present any of your work on Saturday. We would also like to know how long you will be staying, if you have a roommate preference, and any other information you’d like to share.

Hope to hear from you!

Monday 5 March 2012

Le Party de Sucre 2012

Le Party de Sucre 2012  
THE SUGAR PARTY
!
Saturday March 31st 
9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. 
St. Ann Church 
215 West St.
Bristol, CT 06010
 
Cabane à Sucre brunch, Traditional French Folk and Country Music, &  La Tire/ Maple taffy on snow!  
Live Music by :
Josée Vachon
Daniel Boucher
Michel Grenier
MaryAnn Valentin
 & and many musician friends from
Connecticut, Massachusetts, & Rhode Island!
 
Tickets
$25 Adults
$8 Ages 6 - 12
$5 Ages 5 and under
(price includes meal, coffee, tea, la Tire, & entertainment )

For Ticket information or questions contact:
jamfrancais@yahoo.com
860-614-9970 or
860-287-4931

Wednesday 20 October 2010

Unnatural Deaths

ORONO -- The University of Maine Franco American Centre has scheduled a reading Oct. 28 by author and attorney Robert G. Fuller, Jr., whose novel "Unnatural Deaths" takes place in a fictional Franco-American town in Maine with several Franco-American characters.

The reading at 2 p.m. at the Centre in Crossland Hall is free and public.

Fuller, a resident of Winthrop, will be introduced by Augusta attorney Severin Beliveau, a Distinguished Professor of Franco American Studies at the University of Maine and Honorary Consul for France. One of Fuller's main characters in his novel, Larry Pelletier, is modeled after Beliveau, who is a native of Rumford, Maine.

Unnatural Deaths is about a tenacious police detective who finds, during the investigation of a murder of a local businessman at a hunting camp deep in the Maine woods, that the killing may be related to two others on the East Coast. The investigation leads to a complex international business plot the detective must figure out with help from a well-connected lawyer and brother of the murdered businessman.

Fuller practiced law in Maine for about 35 years and served in the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the United States Navy as a reserve officer. During his career, he developed extensive contacts among Maine trial lawyers and judges, law enforcement personnel, prosecutors and forensic analysts, all of which have contributed to the authentic flavor of this novel.

Additional information about Fuller and Unnatural Deaths is available on the website for the book at _www.unnaturaldeaths.com/ _.

Wednesday 29 September 2010

Quebecois harmonica

Ray Lambert, just self-published an illustrated book he wrote with another musician about Quebec folk tunes including notations and music score to play them on the harmonica.
Ray is a bi-lingual Franco American from Lewiston, (now lives in Mariaville near Ellsworth) who wrote the book in both English and French in collaboration with a musician from France who also loves Quebec tunes and the harmonica.
We have heard Ray play a concert of this music on the harmonica, and with his ability to bend the notes accompanied by his feet stamping percussion, you think you are hearing a fiddler playing the old tunes. In a performance setting he plays with a guitarist.