The Thompson Free Library is starting a monthly Philosophy Circle to explore different philosophers and philosophical topics. Our aim is to create a space to engage in fun and thought-provoking conversations as we explore big questions and ideas. Join us at our first meeting on Friday, December 7 at 3:00 pm to help plan the future of the group.

Note: Next meeting: Friday, January 4 at 3:30 pm

Please note that no previous experience is needed, and that you don’t have to think of yourself as a philosopher to participate!

The Dover Cove Winter Farmers’ Market returns to the Thompson Free Library beginning Saturday, November 17!

Operating since 2012, the Dover Cove Farmers’ Market offers fresh food and farm products from the Maine Highlands. The market will be held in our downstairs meeting room the 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month through April.

Stop by between 9 am and 1 pm to purchase locally grown seasonal produce, eggs, baked goods, goat cheese and soap, handcrafts, wreaths and ornaments, and more!

Market dates: December 1, December 15, December 22, January 5, January 19, February 2, February 16, March 2, March 16, March 30, April 13, April 27.

Keep up with the market at: https://www.facebook.com/DoverCoveFarmersMarket/

We’re pleased to display artwork by the Milo Art Guild this month at the library!

About the Milo Art Guild: 

“We are a small, friendly group living in the Milo area with varying levels of art experience who gather every Thursday from 9-11 am at the Milo Free Public Library on the corner of Park and Pleasant Streets. Our work can always be seen at the Milo Art Show.

We are currently learning watercolor painting with Wilma Stanchfield. Classes are only $5 a session. When Wilma is unavailable we still meet and work on our own using watercolor, acrylics, colored pencil and pastels. In the past we have received drawing instruction from Suzette East of Brownville. We enjoy creating landscapes, seascapes, florals, birds and wildlife in styles ranging from impressionistic, realistic or abstract, to whimsical and decorative.

All ages and levels of experience (or inexperience) are welcome. If you’re interested, stop by and check us out. If you have questions, or would like information about what supplies to bring, contact Linda Moe (943-7928) or Wilma Stanchfield (943-2219).”

Barb Hamlin

Artist Bio

Joan Henderson

Artist Bio

Gayle LaVallee

Artist Bio

Ellen MacMillan

Artist Bio

Linda Moe

Artist Bio

Wilma Stanchfield

Artist Bio

Creative Kids Art Time begins on Wednesday, November 7!

This new after-school program will meet the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month from 3:30-4:30 pm. The library will provide materials for creative art exploration, for children ages two and up.

Wesley McNair, Maine’s former poet laureate, will return to the Thompson Free Library on Thursday, November 29 at 5:30 pm to read from his latest volume of poems, “The Unfastening.” His presentation will also offer insights into the creative process used in the writing of the book.

“In a dark time, unfastened by loss and despair, how does one find one’s way back to the world again?” asks McNair. “This book seeks to answer this question through poems of sorrow, and hope, and joy. My presentation will explain the complex, unexpected process through which the book reached its final form, weaving selected poems into the discussion.”

McNair, who lives in Mercer, is one of New England’s most celebrated contemporary poets. The author of nine volumes of poems, he has been selected for a United States Artists Fellowship as one of America’s “finest living artists.”

During his long writing career, McNair has won grants from the Fulbright and Guggenheim foundations, two Rockefeller Fellowships, two grants in creative writing from the National Endowment for the Arts, and an Emmy Award. He has twice been invited to read his poetry by the Library of Congress, and has served five times on the jury for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. In 2015, McNair was named as the recipient of the PEN New England Award for Literary Excellence in Poetry.