College Hosts Christopher Tilghman, Author of Mason's Retreat, October 18

Chestertown, MD, October 8, 2001 — The Washington College Center for the Environment and Society and "Journeys Home: An Eastern Shore Lecture Series" present a reading with commentary by Christopher Tilghman, author of In a Father's Place and Mason's Retreat, on Thursday, October 18, 2001, at 5 p.m. in the College's Hynson Lounge. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

Tilghman is the author of two collections of short stories, "In a Father's Place" and "The Way People Run," and the novel Mason's Retreat, which tells the story of an expatriate Eastern Shore family that returns to its old Chesapeake Bay estate on the eve of World War II. Noted for his ability to set scene after scene with remarkable sensitivity to both sense of place and characterization, Tilghman has had stories anthologized in "Best American Short Stories" and other collections, and has been translated into ten foreign languages.

The recipient of numerous grants and awards, including the Guggenheim Fellowship and Whiting Writer's Award, Tilghman was previously Writer-in-Residence at Emerson College in Boston, MA, and now teaches creative writing at the University of Virginia. He and his wife, the writer Caroline Preston, live near Charlottesville, VA, with their three sons.

Tilghman also will lecture Wednesday, October 17, 2001, at the Historic Avalon Theatre in Easton, MD, speaking on "The Pull of the Land: Place and Imagination." Starting at 7:30 p.m., the lecture is part of the 2001 Eastern Shore Lecture Series "Journeys Home: People, Nature and Sense of Place," a subscription series co-sponsored by the Washington College Center for the Environment and Society, the Adkins Arboretum, the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, the Horsehead Wetlands Center and the Maryland Center for Agroecology.

For subscription information on the Journey's Home Lecture Series or for information about other programs sponsored by the Washington College Center for the Environment and Society, please visit ces.washcoll.edu or call 410-810-7151.

Speakers Series Focuses on Region's Sense of Place

Chestertown, MD, August 8, 2001 — The Historic Avalon Theater in Easton, Md., will host a 2001 Eastern Shore Lecture Series entitled "Journeys Home: People, Nature and Sense of Place." The presentations will explore the value we place on the natural world and give new insights into how those values translate into vibrant, safe and environmentally sound communities.

"Journeys Home" is a subscription lecture series co-sponsored by the Washington College Center for the Environment and Society, the Adkins Arboretum, the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, the Horsehead Wetlands Center and the Maryland Center for Agroecology.

The schedule of presenters for Fall 2001 is:

Wednesday, September 19, 2001

John Hanson Mitchell: "Inventing Place"

Author of Ceremonial Time, Fifteen Thousand Years on One Square Mile, and other books melding history, environment, and place around his home in Massachusetts. Mr. Mitchell freely admits that visits to his Eastern Shore roots were the origin of the values he has developed about people, places, and things environmental.

Wednesday, October 17, 2001

Christopher Tilghman: "The Pull of the Land: Place and Imagination"

Mr. Tilghman's first book, In a Father's Place, is a set of stories set against natural landscapes of North America, including Maryland's Eastern Shore. The novel Mason's Retreat is about an expatriate Eastern Shore family that, on the eve of World War II, returns to its old estate on Chesapeake Bay. He is noted for being able to set scene after scene with remarkable clarity and sensitivity.

Wednesday, November 14, 2001

Northern Neck Chantey Singers: "Songs of Our Life, Songs of Our Sea"

A live performance of narrative and songs by a troupe of retired menhaden fishermen from Reedville, VA. Their cassette recording, See You When the Sun Goes Down, contains a selection of the chanteys they sing, traditional work songs that all-Black crews sang to coordinate the raising of their fishing nets. Performance organized in cooperation with the Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation, Annapolis.

Ticket prices are $30 for the fall component of three lectures, or $10 per individual lecture. Student tickets are half-priced. All presentations will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Historic Avalon Theatre, Easton.

For further information, contact Dr. Wayne H. Bell, Director of the Washington College Center for the Environment and Society, at 410-810-7171.