Gala Concert Features Mezzo-soprano with Flute, Piano and Visit from Featured Composer

Final Offering in 60th Season of Washington College Concert Series, Saturday, April 14

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Mezzo-soprano D’Anna Fortunato will close the 60th season of the Washington College Concert Series on Saturday, April 14, with a Gala Vocal Chamber Concert that will also feature flutist Peter H. Bloom and pianist Mary Jane Rupert. As a special treat, composer Elizabeth Vercoe will attend the concert to hear two of her works performed and chat with concertgoers afterward.

The performance will take place at 8 p.m. in Hotchkiss Recital Hall, Gibson Center for the Arts, on the College campus, 300 Washington Avenue. Tickets at $15 ($5 for youth ages 18 and under) can be purchased at the door. Washington College students are admitted free with valid ID. There are no reserved seats.

Elizabeth Vercoe has been described as one of the most inventive composers working in America today, and her work has been performed around the globe. Two of her compositions are on the April 14 program. First is “Kleemation,” five short movements inspired by line drawings by German artist Paul Klee. The second, “My Letter to the World,” is based on poems by Emily Dickinson.

In addition to Vercoe’s music, the program will include arias from Handel and Rossini, Franz Schubert’s “The Shepherd on the Rock,” three songs by Amy Cheney Beach, Daniel Pinkham’s 1993 piece “Vowels,” and “Nga Whetu e Whitu,” a piece for flute and piano by New Zealand composer Gareth Farr.

D’Anna Fortunato, a 2006 Grammy nominee in three categories, has been featured as a soloist with many of America’s best orchestras. She has worked with companies that include the New York City Opera, Glimmerglass, and Opera San Jose, made numerous appearances at international music festivals, and recorded 40 CDs.

A Noah Greenberg Award winner, Peter H. Bloom has appeared on 30 recordings from such prestigious labels as Sony Classical, Dorian, Leo Records, and Newport Classic. He has given concerts everywhere from Boston to Bangkok and is both a distinguished classical artist and a noted jazz player.

As a pianist and harpist, Mary Jane Rupert has performed solo recitals internationally, from Carnegie Hall to Beijing Concert Hall, and appeared with symphonies and chamber ensembles throughout the United States. She is a member of the music faculties of Tufts University and Boston College.

For more information, please call 410-778-7839 or e-mail concert series director Kate Bennett at kbennett2@washcoll.edu.

New Book by Professor Alisha Knight Examines Work of Writer, Activist Pauline E. Hopkins

CHESTERTOWN, MD—A new book by Alisha Knight, associate professor of English and American Studies at Washington College, offers the first full-length critical analysis of pioneering African American writer Pauline Hopkins. Just released by the University of Tennessee Press, Knight’s Pauline Hopkins and the American Dream: An African American Writer’s (Re)Visionary Gospel of Success will provide literary scholars and historians alike with insight into the life and writings of a woman who openly confronted discrimination at the turn of the century.

“Pauline Hopkins broke the mold of the domestic tradition of nineteenth-century women’s writing, choosing instead to use self-made African American men and women to critique the racism and sexism that prevailed in American society,” says Knight.

A prolific writer, Hopkins published four novels, seven short stories, and numerous articles for the Colored American Magazine, where she also worked as an editor, in just the four-year period between 1900 and 1904. The Maine native lost her position at the magazine because of her habit of challenging authority figures with her then-revolutionary ideas about how literature should be used to advocate racial and gender equality in a Post-Civil War America. Her “Famous Men” and “Famous Women” series for the Colored American Magazine offered African American models of success, but her fiction often depicted African American heroes who either failed to achieve success at home because of societal barriers, or found success only after leaving the United States.

“I've always been interested in authors who have been underrepresented in the canon and in the classroom,” Knight explains, “and being able to study Pauline Hopkins at length has been fulfilling. I’m pleased that Hopkins has been gaining attention, and I hope my book helps make her work more accessible to students and everyday readers. Hopkins wanted her writing to reach a broad audience, and she worked hard to produce material that was both straightforward and intellectually engaging. I would like to think that my book does likewise.”

Dr. Knight is a summa cum laude graduate of Spelman College who went on to earn a master’s from Rutgers and both a master’s and doctorate from Drew University. In addition to teaching at Washington College, she directs the Black Studies Program, which encourages a greater understanding of black culture and a new appreciation for the impact people of African descent have made on world cultures and human history.

Among Dr. Knight’s published articles are “Furnace Blasts for the Tuskegee Wizard: Revisiting Pauline E. Hopkins, Booker T. Washington, and the Colored American Magazine” (American Periodicals) and “One and One Make One: A Metacritical and Psychoanalytic Reading of Friendship in Toni Morrison's Sula” (College Language Association Journal). Recipient of a prestigious Career Enhancement Fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Foundation in 2007, she is currently working on a study of late 19th and early 20th century African American book publishing practices.

Former Top Banking Executive Lance Weaver to Speak April 10 on Why Leadership Matters

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Lance Weaver, the former Vice Chairman of MBNA Corporation who oversaw Bank of America’s international and North American credit card operations before retiring in 2008, will speak April 10 at Washington College. His talk, on “Why Leadership Matters,” will take place at 5 p.m. in Hynson Lounge, Hodson Hall, on the College campus, 300 Washington Avenue.

Weaver’s retirement from Bank of America, which purchased MBNA in January 2006, capped a long career in the banking industry that also included stints at Wells Fargo, and Citibank and a decade on the Board of MasterCard.

As an executive vice chairman and the chief administrative officer of MBNA, he was instrumental in taking the corporation public in 1991 and growing it to employ 25,000 people worldwide. His responsibilities there included corporate affairs, law, government relations, real estate, facility management, personnel, security, compensation and benefits, career development, investor relations, media relations, and planning. Mr. Weaver also served as president of the MBNA Foundation and managed all the company’s community relations activities.

Today, he serves as a consultant to a wide range of companies including VISA, TSYS and The Kessler Group.

A graduate of Georgetown University, Mr. Weaver is a past member of that school’s Board of Directors and has also served as one of its Trustees. He also served as Board Chair of the Tower Hill School in Wilmington, Delaware, and recently taught an honors course in business ethics at University of Delaware.

Pulitzer-Winning Historian Alan Taylor, in Residence at Washington College, to Speak April 12

CHESTERTOWN, MD— Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alan Taylor, one of the most celebrated contemporary historians of early America, is spending two weeks in Chestertown as he works on his newest book project, telling a little-known story of war and freedom on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. Taylor is in residence as the 2012 Frederick Douglass Visiting Fellow at Washington College’s C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience from March 31 through April 13. He will give a sneak preview of his work-in-progress at the College on Thursday, April 12.

The War of 1812 has often been called “America’s second revolution.” For thousands of enslaved African Americans around the Chesapeake – including many on the Eastern Shore of Maryland – it proved to be nothing less than a new birth of freedom as they sought liberty under the protection of British troops. Their long-forgotten story is the subject of Taylor’s work, following up on the success of his last book, The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, and Indian Allies (Knopf, 2010), which was a finalist for last year’s George Washington Book Prize.

Taylor’s April 12 talk, “American Exodus, British Canaan: The War of 1812 in the Chesapeake,” will begin at 5 p.m. in Hynson Lounge, Hodson Commons. A book signing will follow. The event is sponsored by the Starr Center and co-sponsored by the Maryland State Archives, the Maryland Historical Society, the Historical Society of Kent County, and the Black Studies Program at Washington College. Attendees will have the opportunity to view rare original documents about the War of 1812 in Maryland, displayed for the occasion by the Maryland State Archives. The event is free and open to the public.

Taylor is Professor of History at the University of California Davis and a contributing editor to the New Republic. His previous books include William Cooper's Town (Knopf, 1996), which won the Bancroft and Pulitzer prizes for American history. The Civil War of 1812 also drew widespread praise. The Washington Book Prize jury called it “the most illuminating and original history of the conflict ever written.” Pulitzer-winning historian Gordon Wood, writing in The New York Review of Books, called it “remarkable and deeply researched,” adding, “Taylor masterfully captures the strangeness of this war.”

Established through a generous gift from Maurice Meslans and Margaret Holyfield of St. Louis, the Starr Center’s annual Frederick Douglass Visiting Fellowship brings to campus an individual engaged in the study or interpretation of African-American history or a related field. Besides providing the recipient an opportunity for a period of focused research and writing, the fellowship also offers Washington College students and faculty a chance to spend time with some of today’s leading interpreters of African-American culture.

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Founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, Washington College is a private, independent college of liberal arts and sciences located in colonial Chestertown on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The College’s C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience is dedicated to fostering innovative approaches to the American past and present. Through educational programs, scholarship and public outreach, and a special focus on written history, the Starr Center seeks to bridge the divide between the academic world and the public at large. For more information on the Center, visit http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu.

Men Will Bravely Step Into High Heels April 12 for Wobbly March Against Sexual Violence

CHESTERTOWN, MD—The third annual Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event at Washington College will send men of all sizes wobbling down Washington Avenue in bright red 4-inch heels Thursday afternoon, April 12, to raise awareness of sexual violence issues. Pre-walk festivities kick off at 4:30 p.m. on Martha Washington Square on the College campus (rain location: the Johnson Fitness Center). The actual march begins at 5 p.m. and ends about 20 minutes later in Fountain Park, downtown Chestertown.

Organizers stress that, while the heels will be issued only to the male participants who register in advance, everyone is welcome to don sensible flats or sneakers and accompany the men on their perilous walk. Supporters also can gather in Fountain Park to await the marchers’ arrival.

To register for the event, email Director of Student Development Beth Anne Langrell at student_development@washcoll.edu or call the Student Affairs office at 410-778-7277. A $5 fee is required, with all proceeds going to For All Seasons, a nonprofit that provides mental health services, including a Rape Crisis Center, throughout Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

Each walk participant—male, female, heels or no heels—who registers byApril 9 will receive an event T-shirt. However, registrations will be accepted until the start of the walk, and T-shirts will be distributed if still available.

The Walk-A Mile events were started 10 years ago in California by Frank Baird, a volunteer with a rape-crisis center who labeled it “The International Men’s March to Stop Rape, Sexual Assault & Gender Violence.” There are now dozens of walks held in communities across the country.

Visiting Lecturer from London Shares His Own Journey through Radical Islam, April 3 at WC

CHESTERTOWN, MD—A scholar and journalist who now works to combat the Islamic radicalization he once actively embraced will share his personal journey in a talk Tuesday, April 3, at Washington College.

Shiraz Maher, a visiting lecturer in Political Science at the College, will deliver his talk, “My Journey through Radical Islam: A Personal Account,” at 5 p.m. in Hynson Lounge, Hodson Hall, on the College campus, 300 Washington Avenue. Sponsored by the Goldstein Program in Public Affairs, the talk is free and open to the public.

Now a senior research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR), based at Kings College, London, Maher works to counter the cultural, economic and political forces that lure young men into religious extremism and violence.

He knows first-hand what he’s up against. A native of England who spent much of his childhood in Saudi Arabia, Maher didn’t think much about his Muslim identity until after 9/11. He returned to the mosque and was soon drawn into a controversial group called Hizb ut Tahrir, which advocates for a single Muslim state ruled under Shiria law by a Caliph. Invited to join a Hizb ut Tahrir study group, he fell into friendship with its leaders and became increasingly a believer, leader and recruiter himself.

It was at Cambridge University, where he began examining Islamic texts on his own while earning an M.Phil. in Historical Studies, that his devotion to fundamentalism began to wither. The defining moment was the bombing of the London Underground, or subway, on July 7, 2005—what the British refer to as 7/7. Seeing so graphically where radicalization could lead, he resigned from Hizb ut Tahrir that night.

After finishing at Cambridge, he worked as a journalist, reporting on the Middle East for print and broadcast outlets that included the BBC, Sunday Times, New Statesman and Wall Street Journal. Before joining the ICSR, he worked for Policy Exchange, where he published an influential study examining the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy among Muslims.

Maher is in Chestertown for the semester at the invitation of Washington College president Mitchell B. Reiss. The two met last fall in London when Reiss took part in a debate sponsored by the ICSR.

For more on Maher’s background and career, visit his Kings College web page, http://icsr.info/page/Shiraz-Maher---Senior-Research-Fellow, and watch a BBC report on his experiences with Hizb ut Tahrir at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLSlh5P0UPc.

Washington College, Arts Council and Book Plate Present Fifth Annual Kent County Poetry Festival

CHESTERTOWN, MD — Washington College and the Kent County Arts Council will present the fourth annual “Kent County Poetry Festival: A Day of Public Poetry in Celebration of National Poetry Month” at the Book Plate, 112 South Cross Street, on Friday, April 6, from 4 to 7 p.m.

People from throughout the county will gather to read aloud their favorite lines from the world of verse—a reminder that poetry, rather than being some rarefied specimen, is in fact a vital, living art with widespread appeal.

Sign-up sheets for festival participation have been posted at various locations throughout the county, and advance sign-up is requested; persons interested in participating also may e-mail poetry@washcoll.edu to become part of the readers' roster.

“This program is in the spirit of the ‘Favorite Poem Project’ pioneered by Robert Pinsky when he was Poet Laureate of the United States,” explains Christopher Ames, Professor of English at Washington College. “The goal is to bring together diverse peoples in our community around the poetry people know and love to share and, in doing so, debunk the idea that poetry is just something for academics to study. During National Poetry Month, we want to illustrate the role that poetry can have in enriching our everyday lives.”

Anyone is welcome to stop by just to listen during First Friday festivities in downtown Chestertown, or to register in advance and participate by reading a favorite poem.

Robert Earl Price, lecturer and writer in residence in the Drama Department at Washington College, is the organizer of the project. Price is an accomplished poet and playwright whose most recent book of poems is Wise Blood, published by Snake Nation Press.

Photo: Festival organizer Robert Earl Price is a poet and playwright who lectures in the Washington College Drama Department.

Laura van den Berg, Mary Wood Fellow in Writing at WC Will Share Her Fiction Thursday, April 5

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Novelist and short story writer Laura van den Berg, who is visiting Washington College as the 2012 Mary Wood Fellow, will read from her work at 5 p.m. Thursday evening, April 5. The reading will take place in Tawes Theatre, Gibson Center for the Arts, on campus (300 Washington Avenue). Sponsored by the Rose O’Neill Literary House and the Department of English, the event is free and open to the public.

Earlier in the week, Tuesday, April 3, van den Berg will lead an informal chat on “Demystifying the Writing Life” at the Rose O’Neil Literary House, 407 Washington Avenue. That event begins at 4:30 p.m.

Laura van den Berg’s work consists largely of short fiction. Her stories appear in such publications as Ploughshares, One Story, Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008, and Best New American Voices 2010. Her imaginative fiction often centers on female narrators and juxtaposes everyday life with the extraordinary.

Van den Berg’s debut story collection, What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us, received the 2007 Dzanc Prize and was published in October 2009 by Dzanc Books.

A native of Florida, van den Berg received her MFA at Emerson College in Boston and has taught writing there, as well as at Gettysburg College and the Gilman School, where she served as the 2010-2011 Tickner Fellow. She lives in Baltimore, where she is teaching creative writing at Goucher College and working on several new stories and a novel. To learn more, visit her website at www.lauravandenberg.com.

The Mary Wood Fellowship at Washington College is awarded biannually to an emerging female writer. The Fellowship, first extended in 2007, enables female creative writing students at Washington College to work with, and learn from, successful female writers like van den Berg, who spend several days on campus. Author Mary Wood, whose support makes the fellowship possible, is a ’68 graduate of the College and a former member of its Board of Visitors and Governors.

This year, students Sarah Roy, Katie Manion, Erica Walburg, Jenna Moore, and Alison Schoenauer will be studying with van den Berg. The five students will read briefly from their own works at the beginning of the Thursday evening event.

Washington College Scientists, GIS Lab, to Help Easton Assess Pollutants in Tred Avon Tributary

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Work begins this month to assess pollutants coming into Talbot County’s Tanyard Branch, a stream that feeds into the Tred Avon River, and set priorities for creating a cleaner, healthier waterway. Funded by a grant from the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program Office, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and the Chesapeake Bay Trust, the town of Easton has awarded a contract for the project to a partnership that includes Washington College, the Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy and Aloft Aerial Photography.

Tanyard Branch is a small stream that begins east of U.S Route 50 and north of Maryland Route 328. It flows under Route 50 through Easton, is piped underground at the Spring Hill Cemetery and continues under Easton Utilities where it emerges again. The stream then empties into the Bay Street ponds before emptying into the upper Tred Avon River. The Tred Avon, in turn, leads to the Choptank River, which feeds the Chesapeake Bay.

The Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy will conduct on-the-ground assessments, monitoring water quality and identifying and assessing potential ways to reduce pollution loads into Tanyard Branch. Washington College’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Lab, part of the school’s Center for Environment and Society, will use state-of-the art technology to identify the watershed boundaries, map the storm-drain network and assess areas of impervious coverage (mostly paved surfaces such as roads and parking lots that rain water cannot permeate).

In addition, faculty members in the College’s chemistry, environmental studies, and biology departments along with scientists from its Center for Environment and Society, will use a new instrument called a mass spectrometer to analyze water samples for chemical pollutants. The spectrometer, purchased with funds from the National Science Foundation, can detect even very low levels of a variety of pollutants.

Adding to the portrait of the watershed, Aloft Aerial Photography will collect high-resolution aerial video of the watershed before and after major storm events.

Once the assessment has been completed, the Town of Easton will hold a series of public meetings where the community can learn about the results and weigh in on the potential components of a watershed management plan. After receiving this public input, the project partners will create a watershed management planning document and present it to the Town Council for consideration.

“We are excited to receive this grant,” says Choptank Riverkeeper Drew Koslow, “It’s important work and will lead to the identification of real projects that, once implemented, will improve water quality in Tanyard Branch.”

Stewart Bruce, the GIS Program Coordinator for Washington College, says his students, along with College staff and faculty, are eager to work with the Town of Easton and the other project partners. “This kind of real-world experience is great for our students and will give them a chance to use their skills to contribute significantly to the community.”

The project, which is expected to be completed by spring of 2013, also will include outreach to homeowners, businesses, and farmers who live and work in the watershed. For more information contact Doug Levin at the Center for Environment and Society: dlevin2@washcoll.edu.

Next in "American Pictures" Series: Pulitzer Prize Winner Tony Horwitz on John Brown, April 7

CHESTERTOWN, MD—The 2012 “American Pictures” series at the Smithsonian continues Saturday afternoon, April 7, when Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, travel writer, and historian Tony Horwitz explores a gripping 1872 portrait of John Brown. The white abolitionist is the subject of Horwitz’s most recent book, Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War (2011).

The image of Brown that Horwitz will discuss, a painting by Ole Peter Hansen Balling, is in the National Portrait Gallery’s collection and on display onsite; so visitors will have an opportunity to view the original after the talk.

A joint program of Washington College, the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the “American Pictures” series offers a highly original approach to art, pairing great works with leading figures of contemporary American culture. Each talk features an eminent writer, artist, critic or historian who chooses a single favorite image to explore, revealing how artworks reflect American identity and inspire creativity in many different fields.

This spring’s all-star line-up features four of America’s most celebrated and multi-talented writers: Horwitz; renowned illustrator and writer Maira Kalman (who appeared on March 24); biographer Edmund Morris, who will speak on April 21; and memoirist, novelist, and musician James McBride, who will conclude the series on May 12. The series director is historian Adam Goodheart, Hodson Trust-Griswold Director of Washington College’s C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience.

Tony Horwitz has garnered a national following for his signature writing style, which blends travel writing and history, inviting readers into the adventure of exploring the past. A graduate of Columbia University School of Journalism, Horwitz spent a decade overseas as a foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. After returning to the United States, he worked as a staff writer for the New Yorker before becoming a full-time author.

His books include four New York Times bestsellers: Confederates in the Attic (1998), A Voyage Long and Strange (2008), Blue Latitudes (2002), and Baghdad Without a Map (1991). Horwitz has been a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and a visiting scholar at the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University.

Ole Peter Hansen Balling’s portrait of Brown in captivity after his abortive 1859 raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry is striking for what it reveals – as well as what it hides – about the famed abolitionist, who remains a lightning rod for controversy more than 150 years after his death. Born in Norway, Balling emigrated to the United States in 1856. After serving briefly in the Union Army, he spent five weeks encamped with General Ulysses S. Grant, sketching Union commanders in the field. After Lee’s surrender, he turned to painting Northern “war heroes” – ranging from William Tecumseh Sherman to John Brown.

All “American Pictures” events take place at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery, located at 8th and G Streets, N.W., in Washington, D.C. Horwitz’s talk will begin at 2 p.m. in the museums’ Nan Tucker McEvoy Auditorium. Free tickets are available beginning at 1:30 p.m. at the G Street lobby information desk on a first-come, first-served basis. No reservations are necessary for the general public.

Students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of Washington College may reserve from a special block of American Pictures tickets on a first-come, first-served basis. The Starr Center will also run free buses from Chestertown to Washington for each talk. Buses will depart at 10:30 a.m. and leave D.C. for the return trip at 7:30 pm. For details or to make a reservation, please call 410-810-7165 or e-mail lkitz2@washcoll.edu. For more information, visit http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu.

About the Sponsors

Founded in 1782 under the personal patronage of its namesake, Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, upholds a tradition of excellence and innovation in the liberal arts. The American Pictures series is a project of the college’s C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and its Department of Art and Art History.

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery tells the history of America through the individuals who have shaped its culture. Through the visual arts, performing arts and new media, the Portrait Gallery portrays poets and presidents, visionaries and villains, actors and activists whose lives tell the American story.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum, the nation’s first collection of American art, is an unparalleled record of the American experience. The collection captures the aspirations, character and imagination of the American people from the colonial period to today.

Locavore Lit Fest to Extol Pleasures and Benefits of Wild, Fermented and Foraged Foods

CHESTERTOWN, MD—The second annual Locavore Lit Fest will bring national and regional writers to Chestertown from March 30 through April 1 for a series of talks about seafood, foraging, fermentation and the wonders of “wild” foods.

“We are committed to a free and open exchange of ideas that invite us to challenge our perception of the world," says event organizer Tara Holste, manager of programs and local food initiatives for the Center for Environment and Society at Washington College. “This year's speakers are sure to ignite some lively thought and discussion about food, health and the planet.”

The weekend kicks off Friday at 6 p.m. on the Washington College campus with a talk and demonstration by Sandor Ellix Katz, author of Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods. Since the publication of his book in 2003, Katz has taught hundreds of workshops across North America and beyond, teaching simple methods for making kimchi, kefir, and other fermented delicacies. His new book, The Art of Fermentation, with foreword by Michael Pollan, is due out this summer.

Katz’s talk will be held in Hynson Lounge, Hodson Hall, on the Washington College campus (300 Washington Avenue) and will be followed by a mini farmer’s market featuring fresh local produce.

On Saturday, Chestertown bookstores will host the first two of three writers offering other perspectives on wild foods. Mick Blackistone, editor of the Maryland Watermen’s Gazette, will lecture at 10:30 a.m. at The Bookplate, 112 S. Cross Street. Blackistone has written eight books for children and adults that focus on the Chesapeake Bay, watermen and the environment.

Up the block at the Compleat Bookseller, located at the intersection of High and Cross Streets, novelist Jean Hegland will speak on edible landscapes at 11:30 a.m. Hegland's first novel, Into the Forest, has been translated into twelve languages and is taught in a number of community- and campus-wide reading programs. The novel has been optioned for film development by a creative team that includes the actress Ellen Page. Hegland lives in the woods of Northern California, where she enjoys nibbling the landscape as she works on her latest book.

The day finishes back on the Washington College campus at 2 p.m. in Hodson Hall, lower level, with a skill-share and a talk by Peter Bauer (a.k.a. Urban Scout), author of Rewild Or Die. Scout is a multi-disciplinary artist and educator who created an international forum and wiki (www.rewild.info) and blogs about rewilding at http://www.urbanscout.org/. Scout will present some radical ideas about civilization and humans’ role in the natural world.

After the talk, at 3 p.m., a “skill-share” session will allow festival attendees to meet up with others interested in skills such as basketry, stone points and jewelry, leatherwork, fire-by-friction, animal tracking, nature awareness and story-telling. Bring a project to work on and share, or come and watch others demonstrate their skills.

On Sunday afternoon, April 1, join Dr. Bill Schindler as he forages for wild edible plants at Adkins Arboretum (12610 Eveland Road in Ridgely, MD). Participants will go into the field to learn how to identify, harvest, and prepare many of spring’s wild edibles. Schindler is a professor of anthropology and archaeology at Washington College. He will offer two foraging workshops, at 1 and 3 p.m. The cost is $15 for members of Adkins Arboretum and $20 for non-members. To register, click here or visit www.adkinsarboretum.org and go to “Programs & Events.”

The Center for Environment & Society at Washington College sponsors the Locavore Lit Fest in partnership with Chestertown Natural Foods, the Rose O’Neill Literary House, Colchester Farm CSA, the Chestertown Spy, and the Kent County Arts Council. With the exception of the foraging walk at Adkins Arboretum ($20), all events are free and open to the public. For more information, call 410-810-7162, email tholste2@washcoll.edu, or visit www.ces.washcoll.edu.

Friday, March 30
6 to 8 p.m.

Sandor Ellix Katz, author of Wild Fermentation
Hynson Lounge, Hodson Hall, Washington College
Demo and lecture, followed by Q&A and mini farmer’s market

Saturday, March 31
10:30 a.m. Mick Blackistone, editor of the Maryland Watermen's Gazette
The Bookplate, 112 S. Cross Street

11:30 a.m. Jean Hegland, author of Into the Forest
Compleat Bookseller, corner of Cross and High Streets

2 p.m. Urban Scout, author of Rewild or Die

Followed by rewilding skill share

Hodson Hall, Washington College

Sunday, April 1

1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Foraging walks with Dr. Bill Schindler

Adkins Arboretum

To register: click here or visit www.adkinsarboretum.org and go to “Programs & Events.”

Photos: Top to bottom: Peter Bauer a.k.a. Urban Scout; fermentation advocate Sandor Katz; novelist Jean Hegland.