(Belfast, ME) Left Bank Books invites the public to a special conversation between two well-known Maine writers, Marilyn Rockefeller and Susan Conley, on Wednesday, July 22, at 7:00 pm at the bookshop. The free event celebrates the recent release of Rockefeller’s latest book, Time is the Substance.
“I’m writing at the age of eighty-four, with a mind that thinks I’m still in my sixties and a body that says, ‘Are you kidding?’” So begins Rockefeller’s collection of essays in which she reflects on the people, places, and animals who have shaped her fully lived life. In crystal-clear prose interspersed with subtle humor and pure poetry, Rockefeller explores the universal themes of love, pain, laughter, and loss.
Time is the Substance is a love letter to Rockefeller’s long life lived on Bald Mountain in Camden, Maine. It’s also a celebration of what growing old with grace can feel like. Her book pays close attention to the stillness and beauty of the natural world. Her stories go back in time to see how we grow into ourselves and become the people we are. Time is the Substance is a luminous story of hard-earned wisdom and, if there’s one prevailing piece of wisdom in the book it’s the idea of acceptance—of slowing down and experiencing grief and not surrendering.
Richard Goodman, author of French Dirt: The Story of a Garden in the South of France, writes: “Newly widowed, in her eighties. . .Rockefeller seeks solace and inspiration, weaving her reflective, lyrical prose from the present to the past and back again. She travels freely from her girlhood in West Virginia to her present-day home in Maine, with stops in between, pausing to pay homage to her animals, all the while. . .confronting the inevitable natural shocks flesh is heir to.”
Joining Rockefeller in conversation is Susan Conley, the award-winning author of five critically acclaimed books, including the best-selling novel Landslide (2021), a New York Times “Editor’s Choice,” a TODAY Show “Best Summer Read,” a Vanity Fair “Book We Can’t Stop Thinking About,” and a New York Times Paperback Row Pick for best “Six New Paperbacks.” It was also chosen as a “Best Book” by Good Morning America and named a Maine NPR “All Books Considered” Bookclub Pick.
Her writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Paris Review, Lithub, The Virginia Quarterly Review, The Harvard Review, Downeast Magazine, Maine Magazine, Wildsam and others. She’s been awarded multiple fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, The Maine Arts Commission, and the Massachusetts Arts Council. She’s won the Maine Book Award and the Maine Award for Publishing Excellence and has been a featured Tedx Speaker, where her talk the “Power of Story” has been viewed widely.
Event & Venue Information
Admission to the event is by donation at the door. Reservations are strongly encouraged by calling Left Bank Books at (207) 338-9009 or by emailing info@leftbankbookshop.com. Left Bank Books is located at 109 Church Street in downtown Belfast, across the street from the police station. Ample, free parking is available in front of the shop and in an adjacent city public lot.