Poet and naturalist Kristen Lindquist will be at the Wendell Gilley Museum in Southwest Harbor, Maine to teach an introductory haiku workshop. She’ll share a brief history of this intriguing art form, which originated in Japan more than 500 years ago and evolved as a nature poem. Kristen will share what makes a poem a haiku (it’s probably not what you think), and how haiku are written today in the United States. Then she will will guide students through writing their own haiku.

Register here. (Fee: $40 for non-members, $32 for members)

Contact the Wendell Gilley Museum for more information.

I will be participating in a poetry reading with two other New England poets at the Exeter LitFest. Please visit the LitFest website for more information.

Registration is $8 for members/$10 for non-members. To register or for more information, visit the Farnsworth Museum Events page.

The Rockland Breakwater is an inviting place to bird in winter if temperature, tides, and wind cooperate. A walk out on the Breakwater takes you into the middle of Rockland Harbor to where the sea birds can be found. In winter, it is a great spot for Purple Sandpipers, loons, grebes, scoters, Common Goldeneyes, Black Guillemots, and sea ducks.

Navigating the uneven and widely spaced granite blocks requires concentration, so we highly recommend you be stable on your feet for this walk, and wear sturdy boots. Dress warmly as the sea breeze in February is cold!

Trip leaders Gail Presley and Kristen Lindquist will meet you in the Breakwater parking lot at the end of Samoset Road at 9 am. Depending on time and interest, we may continue our walk onto the adjacent Samoset grounds. In case of inclement weather, we’ll reschedule to Sunday, Feb. 11, or cancel if it is a longer weather event. For questions, you can reach Gail Presley at 207-975-5930.

Midcoast poet and naturalist Kristen Lindquist will present a narrated slideshow at the Cushing Public Library about her birdwatching experiences on Maine’s Monhegan Island in the fall. Ten miles offshore, Monhegan is a stopover for many birds that follow coastal migration routes. The small island offers 9 miles of trail through forest and coastal habitats that see a wide variety of species in spring and fall, including many vagrants not often seen anywhere else in Maine. Lindquist will provide insight into what species of birds can be found on the island in the fall and offer tips to help you plan your own island birdwatching adventure.

This event is free and open to the public.

Kristen will lead a bird walk on Beech Hill Preserve as part of the Friends of Maine Coastal Islands’ (FOMCI) spring series of local bird outings. Part of the Maine Birding Trail, Beech Hill hosts breeding populations of Savannah and Field Sparrows, Eastern Towhees, Eastern Bluebirds, and more! We will meet at the Upper Trailhead and walk up to the summit through the blueberry barrens.

This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required to participate. For a full list of all the walks in the series, and/or to register for this one, please visit the FOMCI website’s Events page. (Binoculars are available to borrow—simply request them on your registration form.)

The outing is free, but please consider making a donation to FOMCI to support future programs like this one!

Join Kristen and her husband, crime novelist Paul Doiron, for a special literary weekend at the Monhegan House, an inn on Monhegan Island. Kristen will read her poetry on Friday night; Paul will read from Dead Man’s Wake, his forthcoming (and 14th) novel featuring Maine game warden Mike Bowditch, on Saturday night.

For more information, please contact the Monhegan House. (The last ferry leaves the island at 4:30 pm, so accommodations on the island will be necessary for either night.)

Books by both writers will be available to purchase at the event.

Kristen and Gary Gulezian will lead a bird walk at the Ducktrap River Preserve in Lincolnville as part of Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition’s Cathy Morgan Bird Week. We hope to see/hear migrant songbirds on this beautiful forested property along the river, including warblers, Scarlet Tanager, Winter Wren, and more!

This event is free and open to the public. Binoculars will be helpful. Bug repellent recommended.

Join Kristen and her husband, crime novelist Paul Doiron, for a special mixed-genre reading and conversation/Q&A, followed by a book-signing and reception, in Brunswick, Maine.

Books will be available to purchase at the event from Gulf of Maine Books.

This fundraiser for Midcoast Literacy requires advance registration/$30 ticket purchase. For more information and to register, please visit the Midcoast Literacy website. More details to come!

Midcoast poet and naturalist Kristen Lindquist will present a narrated slideshow at the Rockport Public Library about her birdwatching experiences on Maine’s Monhegan Island in the springtime. Ten miles offshore, Monhegan is a stopover for many birds that follow coastal migration routes. The small island offers 9 miles of trail through forest and coastal habitats that see a wide variety of species in spring and fall, including many vagrants not often seen anywhere else in Maine. Lindquist will provide insight into what species of birds can be found on the island in the spring and offer tips to help you plan your own island birdwatching adventure.

This event is free and open to the public.

In honor of poet Edna St. Vincent Millay’s 131st birthday, a line-up of Maine poets will each read one of Millay’s poems celebrating her spirit of rebellion and bravado, as well as one of their own poems. Poets include: Kathleen Ellis (host), Francois Amar, Carol Bachofner, Ellen Goldsmith, Annaliese Jakimides, Judy Kaber, Gary Lawless, Kristen Lindquist, Carl Little, Claire Milliken, Jefferson Navicky, Rachel Ouellette, and Karen Spitfire.

This in-person event will take place in the auditorium of the Farnsworth Art Museum in downtown Rockland, ME. Ticket purchase required: $8 for FAM members; $10 for non-members. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, visit the Farnsworth website in February or call 207.596.6457 after February 11.

A reception will follow the reading at the nearby Millay House.

I will be reading with my dear friend and fellow poet Lesley Dauer on Zoom for SoulFood Poetry Night, hosted by SoulFood Coffee House in Redmond, WA. Please join us! Details and Zoom link available here.

If you haven’t been to SoulFood Poetry Night, you’re missing out on a warm and vibrant poetry community! On the third Thursday of every month, SoulFood CoffeeHouse in Redmond, Washington, is home to SoulFood Poetry Night, an evening of engaged and engaging poetry. Since March 2020, these events have been happening since March 2020.

2022 Monhegan Associates Ecology Lecture I - The Poetry of Bird Migration, Charles Duncan and Kristen Lindquist

Inspired by years of birding on Monhegan, a scientist and a poet join forces to present a mixed-media presentation of ecology, poetry, photographs and anecdotes.

Charles Duncan, Professor Emeritus of the University of Maine at Machias, co-authored the completed publication of Peter Vickery’s magnum opus, The Birds of Maine.

Kristen Lindquist is a poet, freelance writer and naturalist who has spent many years birding on Monhegan. Her poetry collection, Transportation, was a Maine Literary Award finalist.

Click here to register for this event.

The Wendell Gilley Museum's signature monthly speaker series continues in April—National Poetry Month—with naturalist and poet Kristen Lindquist offering a program (via Zoom) of her own poetry featuring Maine birds.

People-Nature-Art brings creative types of all kinds to the Gilley to explore the impact of nature on their art and creativity.

Click here to register via the Wendell Gilley Museum website.

Lindquist is a Pushcart-nominated poet and naturalist living in Camden. She has published two full-length collections of poetry: Transportation, which was a finalist for the Maine Literary Award, and Tourists in the Known World. Garrison Keillor has shared three of her poems on “The Writer’s Almanac.” An avid birder, Lindquist guides for the Acadia Birding Festival and wrote a natural history column for years for her local paper. She currently maintains a daily haiku blog and occasionally teaches haiku workshops.

Kristen is also a naturalist who, among other things, is a guide annually for the Acadia Birding Festival which is based at the Gilley.

Hope Library is pleased to host two well-known local poets for a special reading on Zoom. Kristen Lindquist of Camden and Elizabeth Tibbetts of Hope will be reading from their recent work in an integrated, thematic presentation.

Those interested should email the library at hopelibrary04847@gmail.com to receive the Zoom information.

About the poets:
Kristen Lindquist of Camden is a poet and freelance writer whose work has appeared in such venues as Down East, Bangor Metro, and Bangor Daily News, as well as many literary journals and anthologies. Her poetry collection Transportation was a finalist for the Maine Literary Award, and Garrison Keillor read three poems from the book on NPR's The Writer’s Almanac. Her most recent book is Tourists in the Known World: New & Selected Poems. She attended Hope School (where the town office/library are now) for 3rd and 4th grades.

Elizabeth Tibbetts’ book, Say What You Can, was published in 2019 by Deerbrook Editions. Her previous book, Perfect Selves won the 2002 Bluestem Poetry Prize. She received a Maine Arts Commision Creative Writing Fellowship. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and has been read on Writers Almanac. Elizabeth grew up in Camden and has lived in Hope with her husband and dogs for the past 30+ years.

Maine’s varied natural settings have long been an inspiration to poets, and that continues now more than ever as the state faces the effects of climate change and other challenges. Join us online as contemporary poets Gary Lawless, Kristen Lindquist, and Carl Little share their passion and concern for nature through their own verse and that of others. Hosted by the Wendell Gilley Museum.

There is no charge for this event, but registration is required. Sign up HERE.

Evening Showcase on Zoom
6:30 pm – 8 pm Poetry, Performance, and Visual Arts Multimedia Show

Reading of the winning poems of the 2021 Maine Postmark Poetry Contest

2021 Featured Poets, Performers, and Artists

Julia Bouwsma and Asata Radcliffe
Myronn Hardy and Anita Clearfield
Kristen Lindquist and Anna Strickland
Diego Bonilla and Rodolfo Mata
Jefferson Navicky and Rebecca Goodale
Jan Bindas-Tenney and Ling-Wen Tsai

Sign up/register for the Zoom link here.

Novelist Paul Doiron and poet Kristen Lindquist, a husband and wife team, will read from their work for Denmark Arts via Zoom on Sunday, July 25, at 4:00 p.m. For information on how to register to receive a Zoom link for this event, please contact Denmark Arts Center.

In their work, both writers draw heavily upon the landscape of the human heart, as well as the natural landscape of Maine. Lindquist will read a selection of her narrative poetry that feature people and settings that correspond well with those found in Doiron’s novels. Doiron will then read an excerpt from his latest book, followed by a question and answer session.

See and hear what early spring migrants are showing up at Merryspring Nature Center on World Migratory Bird Day! The season’s first warblers and vireos are possibilities, as well as other colorful songbirds.

Free and open to the public. Binoculars not required but strongly encouraged if you have them. Please plan to follow all current Covid-19 protocols, including masking and distancing.

For more information, contact Brett at Merryspring Nature Center.

The Farnsworth Art Museum (Rockland, ME) is hosting a virtual Earth Day Poetry panel of four Maine poet/presenters, including myself, Carol Bachofner, Ellen Goldsmith, John Paul Caponigro, and Kathleen Ellis. Each presenter will read and talk about three poems (including maybe one of their own) that resonate with Earth Day.

Free of charge. To register and/or for more information, please visit the Farnsworth event posting here.

I will be presenting a virtual Introduction to Haiku (via Zoom) for Waterman’s Community Center on North Haven, exact time and details yet to be confirmed. This presentation will be very similar to the one I did in January for the Camden Public Library, if you happened to attend that one.

FMI, check back here or contact Waterman’s here (email Alice).

Haiku from Home: A Reading by the Broadmoor Haiku Collective

Hosted by Miriam Sagan

Come hear about how we pivoted from ginko to “Zoomko” in 2020!

We’ll share what we’ve learned—and read some haiku generated from our virtual gatherings.

Featuring: Brad Bennett, Alan S. Bridges, Judson Evans, Kristen Lindquist, Hannah Mahoney, Jeannie Martin, Paul Miller, Tom Sacramona, and Mary Stevens

RSVP here to receive the Zoom link.

Online via Zoom 

Celebrate the 129th birthday (on Feb. 22) of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay with Maine poets reading letters and poems that focus on Millay’s exploration of loss and renewal. Poets will also read their own poems in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, personal loss, and the threat of global climate change.

 A hundred years ago, Millay began writing “Renascence” when she was nineteen and caring for her ailing father in Kingman, Maine. “Renascence,” which moves between life and death and ends with a sense of hope and revival, was the first poem to catapult Millay to stardom, winning fourth place in The Lyric Year anthology in 1912. This year’s annual birthday reading will focus on Millay’s poems that mediate a balance between grief and renewal of hope, such as those from her third collection, Second Spring, that includes an elegy for Millay’s Vassar classmate who died from the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918.

The 12 featured Maine poets include: Kathleen Ellis, Host; Stuart Kestenbaum; François Amar; Carol Bachofner; Ellen Goldsmith; Annaliese Jakimides; Bria Lamonica; Gary Lawless; Kristen Lindquist; Claire Millikin; Wendy Satin Rapaport; and Elizabeth Tibbetts.

This event is free and open to the public, but registration through the host, Farnsworth Art Museum, is necessary. To register or FMI, click here.

Two poets and two musicians will come together to celebrate Maine’s natural world through poetry and music at the Camden Opera House’s inaugural Literary Salon in the Tucker Room. This special Poetry & Strings program will feature poets Kristen Lindquist and Paul Corrigan reading their work, with musicians Susan Ramsey on violin and guitar and Ruth Fogg on cello. Admission is free with donations accepted; seating is limited.

 There is something wonderful about the recitation of poetry and the performance of music that allows each art to stand on its own. But the cross-fertilization that arises when the two are combined is something even more special and uplifting, as these four performers have discovered with their unique program. Inspired musicians can make poetic images soar, transporting the audience by evoking thoughts and feelings beyond the words themselves and adding layers of thought and meaning.

Kristen Lindquist is a poet and naturalist from Camden. Her poetry and other writings have appeared in Down East and the Bangor Daily News, as well as many literary journals and anthologies. She writes a monthly Maine natural history column for PenBayPilot.com and has published three poetry collections; her book TRANSPORTATION was a finalist for the 2012 Maine Literary Award.

 Paul Corrigan, from Millinocket, is a poet and essayist who has worked as a Baxter Park Ranger, a high school English teacher, and a whitewater rafting guide. His poems, essays, and stories are inspired by his lifelong love of the Maine woods. His poems have appeared in such publications as the Maine Times, Yankee, and the anthology MAINE SPEAKS, which is used statewide in the public schools.

Susan Ramsey shares her love of music around New England with folksinger / songwriter David Mallett and as the violinist for the touring chamber ensemble Highlands Classical. She also composes and arranges sacred and secular music for the North Country Strings. With a degree in music from Smith College, Susan directs the Foxcroft Academy String Program, operates a private music studio, and serves as Music Director for the Methodist Church in Dover-Foxcroft. The beauty of Maine inspires her to teach, perform, and compose music.

 Ruth Fogg is also a member of the Highlands Classical ensemble and performs regularly with Susan as the North Country Strings. Currently a cello teacher in addition to being a performer, she started playing the cello at the age of nine. As a member of the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, she studied with BSO cellist Mischa Nieland.

As an avid birder, I enjoy writing and talking about birds, as well! For this program at the Bremen Library, I will read poems (my own and others’) that feature birds, with a focus on birds that we might see around us right here in Midcoast Maine. Because I can’t help myself, I will also share some natural history tidbits about the various birds. Hopefully the program will take flight, as it were, and be both uplifting and informative.

Free and open to the public. For more information, please contact the library.

Celebrate the 128th birthday of Maine’s own Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, with Maine poets (including myself!) reading letters and poems that focus on Millay’s evolution from an inveterate Romantic poet to a full-fledged eco-poet. Poets will also read their own poems about nature, as well as the poetry of Millay’s friend and fellow poet Abbie Huston Evans.

The full lineup of poets includes: Kathleen Ellis (host); Carol Bachofner; Laura Bonazzoli; Ellen Goldsmith; Annaliese Jakimides; Gary Lawless; me; Carl Little; Tom Moore: Jefferson Navicky; Lisa Panepinto; and Ellen Taylor

In collaboration with the Millay House, Rockland.

Find more information about/to register for this free event here.

As an avid birder, I enjoy writing and talking about birds, as well! For this program at the Hope Public Library, I will read poems (my own and others’) that feature birds, with a focus on birds that we might see around us right here in Midcoast Maine. Because I can’t help myself, I will also share some natural history tidbits about the various birds. Hopefully the program will take flight, as it were, and be both uplifting and informative.

Free and open to the public. For more information, please contact the library.

Snow date: Wed., February 19, 1:00 pm.

I will be offering a four-week Introduction to Haiku workshop via the Five Town CSD Adult & Community Education program. Class size is limited to 10, and advance registration is necessary. Cost is $45.

Course description: The centuries-old Japanese haiku has become one of the most universally popular poetic forms, in part because of its simplicity of form -- three short, unrhymed lines. You might think any first-grader could write a haiku, but writing haiku is not about counting syllables! In this introductory workshop, we will explore the history of the form, read classic Japanese haiku in translation as well as contemporary English language haiku, and practice techniques for writing, editing, and sharing our own short poems.

For more information and/or to sign up, please go here.

Novelist Paul Doiron and poet Kristen Lindquist will read from their work at the gallery of Eric Hopkins, 120 Tillson Avenue, Rockland on Wednesday, December 11, 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. This special event is open to the public at no charge; seating is limited. Refreshments will be served.

Paul Doiron is the author of a crime novel series and several short stories featuring Maine game warden Mike Bowditch. The tenth installment of the series, ALMOST MIDNIGHT, was published this past July; number eleven, ONE LAST LIE, is due out June 30, 2020. Winner of the Barry Award, the Strand Critics Award, the Maine Literary Award, and the Best of Maine Award from DOWN EAST, Doiron’s work has also twice been nominated for an Edgar Award, the “Oscar” for mystery writers. The two most recent books in his series have been USA TODAY national bestsellers, as well. Doiron is past editor-in-chief of DOWN EAST magazine.

A longtime fan of the series, Eric Hopkins recently collaborated with Doiron to create a representation of fictional Maquoit Island, the setting for Doiron’s book STAY HIDDEN, released in 2018. A limited selection of Doiron’s books will be available for purchase and signing at the event.

The poetry of Kristen Lindquist has been read by Garrison Keillor on “The Writer’s Almanac.” Her first full-length collection, TRANSPORTATION, was a finalist for the Maine Literary Award. The Hopkins painting “Waterways in the Bay” was featured on the cover. Her most recent book of poetry, TOURISTS IN THE KNOWN WORLD, came out in 2017 and will be available for purchase and signing at the event. An avid birder and naturalist, Lindquist also writes a monthly nature column for Pen Bay Pilot and a daily haiku blog. She is married to Doiron, and they live in her hometown of Camden.

Both writers draw heavily upon the Maine landscape and natural world in their work, the themes and images of which mesh perfectly with Hopkins’s artwork, on full display throughout the sprawling gallery. Hopkins captures the dynamic forces and rhythms of nature in his watercolors, oils, blown glass, mixed media, and photography. His vision focuses on the big picture of the natural world, its geological and geographical forms, and the exchange of energy between the elements of Earth, Water, and Sky. Fellow Mainers Doiron and Lindquist also express these patterns, and rhythms through the perspectives of their specific genres. 

Two poets and two musicians will come together to celebrate Maine’s natural world through poetry and music at the Thompson Free Library in Dover-Foxcroft. This special Poetry & Strings program will feature poets Kristen Lindquist and Paul Corrigan reading their work, with musicians Susan Ramsey on violin and guitar and Ruth Fogg on cello. Admission is free with donations accepted.

There is something wonderful about the recitation of poetry and the performance of music that allows each art to stand on its own. But the cross-fertilization that arises when the two are combined is something even more special and uplifting, as these four performers have discovered with their unique program. Inspired musicians can make poetic images soar, transporting the audience by evoking thoughts and feelings beyond the words themselves and adding layers of thought and meaning.

Kristen Lindquist is a poet and naturalist from Camden. Her poetry and other writings have appeared in Down East and the Bangor Daily News, as well as many literary journals and anthologies. She writes a monthly Maine natural history column for PenBayPilot.com and has published three poetry collections; her book TRANSPORTATION was a finalist for the 2012 Maine Literary Award.

Paul Corrigan, from Millinocket, is a poet and essayist who has worked as a Baxter Park Ranger, a high school English teacher, and a whitewater rafting guide. His poems, essays, and stories are inspired by his lifelong love of the Maine woods. His poems have appeared in such publications as the Maine Times, Yankee, and the anthology MAINE SPEAKS, which is used statewide in the public schools.

Susan Ramsey shares her love of music around New England with folksinger / songwriter David Mallett and as the violinist for the touring chamber ensemble Highlands Classical. She also composes and arranges sacred and secular music for the North Country Strings. With a degree in music from Smith College, Susan directs the Foxcroft Academy String Program, operates a private music studio, and serves as Music Director for the Methodist Church in Dover-Foxcroft. The beauty of Maine inspires her to teach, perform, and compose music.

Ruth Fogg is also a member of the Highlands Classical ensemble and performs regularly with Susan as the North Country Strings. Currently a cello teacher in addition to being a performer, she started playing the cello at the age of nine. As a member of the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, she studied with BSO cellist Mischa Nieland.