Have you ever dreamed of sailing along Arctic shores, witnessing the unspoiled beauty of the massive glaciers or the spectacle of a glacier calving? Or navigating ice fields so thick that only an icebreaker can make its way through? Join the Jesup Library on Thursday, July 2nd at 5:30pm for a a presentation by Cynthia Reeves, a Maine novelist who will share highlights of her Arctic travels and inspirations for her latest novel, The Last Whaler.

Cynthia Reeves is the author of The Last Whaler, winner of the IndieReader Discovery Award, finalist for the 2025 Maine Literary Award, and the June 2026 selection for Maine Public’s All Books Considered; Falling Through the New World, short-listed for the 2025 Eric Hoffer Grand Prize, CIPA Gold Award winner, and Foreword INDIES finalist; and Badlands, winner of Miami University Press’s Novella Prize. Her poetry and fiction have appeared widely, and she has held residencies with Hawthornden, the Arctic Circle, Atelier, and Vermont Studio Center. A graduate of the Warren Wilson MFA program, she taught creative writing at Bryn Mawr and Rosemont Colleges. Now living in Camden, she draws inspiration from the landscapes of the Arctic and of her youth, exploring themes of memory, place, and environmental loss.

Some journeys are about discovery, while others are about reunion. Complicated routes can lead us to our roots. On Thursday, December 11th at 6:30pm, Carolyn Rapkievian will recount a once-in-a-lifetime trip this past June to the ancestral villages and towns of her grandparents who survived the 1915 Armenian genocide but whose families did not. With the help of Turkish friends and colleagues she was able to visit Husenig, Kharpert, Gesaria, Germir, Talas, Roomdigin, Sepastia, Tokat, and Smyrna in current-day Türkiye. Carolyn will share family stories, the research process when so much has been lost, and will explore how identity continues to be rooted in place beyond the years of separation.

Carolyn Rapkievian of Bar Harbor grew up in an Armenian-American family, collecting the stories and testimonies of her ancestors since she was a child.  Most recently she has been researching and documenting historic Armenian dances from Anatolia.  She has held leadership positions in museums for over 50 years and has lectured internationally about the role of museums in understanding history, promoting reconciliation, and the politics of cultural acknowledgement.

The Camino offered a chance for twelve students to be with themselves and others as they walked the roughly 500-miles from St. Jean Pied-du-Port, France to Santiago de Compostela, Spain along the medieval pilgrimage route of the Camino Frances.

For over forty days, students walked 30,000+ steps a day, ate, rested, and were with their thoughts as they moved from town to town alongside people from around the world on a similar journey. Join professors and students as they talk about the course and their pilgrimage.

Jay Friedlander and Ursula Hanson were two of the COA faculty who designed and led The Camino Course. Jay Friedlander is the Sharpe-McNally Chair of Green and Socially Responsible Business at COA. Ursula Hanson is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, with a private practice and offers mindfulness programming in schools and the community.