Ten Years After The Hungry Ocean, a Swordboat Captain Returns to the Sea

(Searsport, ME) Swordboat captain and bestselling author Linda Greenlaw launches her newest book, SEAWORTHY: A Swordboat Captain Returns to the Sea, with a talk on Sunday, July 18th at 3:00 pm in Searsport. Jointly sponsored by the Penobscot Marine Museum and Left Bank Books, the talk will take place at the First Congregational Church located at 8 Church Street, just adjacent to the museum campus. The event is free and the entire community is invited; there will be 'seaworthy' snacks and a party afterward!

Greenlaw, who lives on Isle-au-Haut and is still the only female swordboat captain in the world, came to fame a dozen years ago as the real-life heroine of the book and movie, The Perfect Storm. In 1999 she told her own version of that story in The Hungry Ocean, which rose to #5 on the New York Times bestseller list, followed by The Lobster Chronicles, which rose to #2. In the years since, she has written a third bestseller, All Fishermen are Liars, two mysteries and a cookbook co-authored with her mother, all the while setting lobster traps full-time.

Now, ten years after her decision to retire from swordfishing, Greenlaw returns to the ocean with Seaworthy: A Swordboat Captain Returns to the Sea (Viking, $25.95), a fish tale, thriller and unexpected adventure about her middle-age craving for one challenge more. And there is definitely more adventure in these pages than fish! Looking back, it all started innocently enough, Greenlaw says: “The truck was on its last gasp. My lobster traps were not producing enough to pay expenses. There was a pile of unpaid bills on the kitchen table.” What better time to say 'yes' to a chance to captain a ship?

But 10 years have passed and how quickly things can go downhill. Four crewman sign on (none has enough sense to turn her down, she thinks!) and the vessel “Seahawk” casts off. Within days the boat's engine has quit, its computer, radar and radio are broken, its long lines are too short, the sharks are circling, the hurricanes building, and the Canadian border patrol is hovering above her. Throw in an unexpected night in the slammer and it's not the return to glory that Linda Greenlaw imagined. It's great material for a return to writing, however, with Greenlaw's trademark honesty, intelligence and Down-East humor.

Reviewers have loved Seaworthy as the long-awaited sequel to The Hungry Ocean: “Who can tire of sharks gnashing and thrashing around on a confined deck, or the rhythmic beauty of laying out 30 miles of line baited with 800 hooks?” (Kirkus Review). But the new book is also a classic homecoming story -- about the urge, in middle age, to face one more challenge and to see if we can rise to meet it. In the final sentence, Greenlaw writes: “I guess I find it impossible to say no when somebody says, 'Let's go fishing!'” The risks are obvious but far outweighed by the fulfillment she finds. No wonder she's not only back fishing again, but also starring in a Discovery Channel series called “Swords”, with the show's second season starting this August.

For more information about Sunday's talk, or to reserve signed copies of any of Greenlaw's books, please call Left Bank Books at 548-6400. The shop is open daily.

>link to Left Bank Books

(Image: "Blue" by Cassie Jones)

At SPACE Gallery on Wednesday, July 21st at 6:00 pm.

(Portland, ME) Brunswick artist Cassie Jones received her MFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2008 and her BA from Bowdoin College. She has shown at Coleman Burke Gallery in New York, Art Chicago, Gallery 808 in Boston, the Portland Museum of Art, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, and others. She has been awarded residencies at Yaddo, the Vermont Studio Center, and the MacDowell Colony. This event is free and open to all ages.

>link to the SPACE Gallery website

>link to Cassie Jones' website

On Thursday, July 15th at 7:30 pm.

(Unity, ME) The Colin Grant Band has created a kind of Celtic fusion that is as much Steely Dan and Yes, as it is Ashley MacIsaac. With a Trad trio comprised of the amazing Jason Roach on piano, and embarrassingly talented Darren MacMullen (bouzouki, mandolin, guitar, banjo) Grant hooked up with the rough and red-eyed blues/funk rhythm section of Merlin Clarke and Donnie Calabrese on bass and drums. Together, the group produces a fervent yet calculated rhythm that backs an expressively diverse range of tunes.

For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit the Unity Centre for the Performing Arts website.

Presented by PORTopera. Performances are July 29th and July 31st.

(Portland, ME) PORTopera’s choice for July 2010’s mainstage production is Engelbert Humperdinck’s rendition of the Brothers Grimm tale Hansel and Gretel. The opera’s underlying themes deal with abandonment, starvation, fear, separation, survival and reconciliation. To present these ideas and in recognition of Portland’s extraordinary diversity, the PORTopera production will employ a 16-member multinational children’s chorus drawn from Portland’s immigrant community. Many of these children have experienced the opera’s themes in their own lives. The children will receive intensive training in opera in June and July to prepare them for performing in the opera’s final reunion scene.

Also appearing in the opera will be children from Portland Ballet as the “angels” in the dream sequence. The production will be conducted by Israel Gursky who returns to the company from his post at Washington National Opera.

On Thursday, July 29th at there will be 7:30 pm show and on Saturday, July 31st the performance is at 2:00 pm. For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit www.portopera.org.