Their daughters Maisy, Megan and Helen are all fiddlers and singers. Maisy, the eldest, bringing out the gypsy side of things through her travels through eastern Europe and the Balkan states, not to mention southern Appalachia, where she has spent several years. Her husband, Eric Dayan, brings his own guitar and singing skills into the mix, along with their children Elijah and Benton who join in on the fiddling family fun.
Grandfather Carter is a marine biologist whose work has brought him all along the North Atlantic on both sides, always with a fiddle in the boat to pick up some local tunes. Grandmother Kaity is a native of Nottingham, England, and brings a vast repertoire of both Americana and Anglicana songs and tunes to the family mix. All of the adult Newells have taught at Maine Fiddle Camp since its inception.
The evening opens with poetry readings from Susann Pelletier and Stephan Cowperthwaite. Pelletier, a Lewiston, Maine native, began writing poems when she was 11 years old. Her work gives voice to her deep connections to family and place in Franco-America, as well as her vision of social justice and dignity at home and beyond our borders.
Her articles and poems have been published here and abroad in anthologies, literary journals, chapbooks, and political and environmental magazines. A series of her poems appeared in 2008 in “Voyages: A Maine Franco-American Reader.” In November 2010, she took part, representing Franco-America, in the Bates International Poetry Festival with seven other poets from around the world. These readings were streamed around the globe, along with text translations.
Joining Pelletier will be Cowperthwaite, who writes: “As a teacher, I was a pretty good storyteller. … [with poetry] it is exciting to find a new way to tell a story.”
The stories and songs will begin at 7 p.m. Trinity Church is at 247 Bates Street. A donation of $10 at the door is suggested for the artists and the many neighborhood ministries; free for students and children. For more information, call 207-344-3106, or visit theroomtrinity.wordpress.com.
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