BEGIN:VCALENDAR METHOD:PUBLISH VERSION:2.0 CALSCALE:GREGORIAN PRODID:-//NONSGML Sandhills Development\, LLC//NONSGML Sugar Calendar Fe eds v3.6.6//EN X-WR-CALNAME:Book Talk &\; Signing: Eleanor Morse in conversation wit h author Robert Diamante X-WR-CALDESC:Bangor Downtown X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 DTSTART:20260407T070000 TZNAME:EDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 DTSTART:20260407T070000 TZNAME:EDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Book Talk &\; Signing: Eleanor Morse in conversation with aut hor Robert Diamante DESCRIPTION:Join The Briar Patch for an evening with Maine author Eleano r Morse in conversation with author Robert Diamante\, discussing her mos t recent novel THIS FOREIGN LAND. This work of fiction is set in 2018 as immigration policy in the United States suddenly changed. It examines w hat one fictional man does when he doesn’t know what to do.\n\n\n\nABO UT THIS FOREIGN LANDThe book is set in the year 2018\, when “Zero tole rance” became official U.S. Immigration Policy and children by the hun dreds began to be separated from their parents at the U.S. southern bord er. It seemed that there could be no greater cruelty than this. Not know ing what to do was the seed that grew into the book. When Vincent hears about the new immigration policy\, he puts a pack on his back and sets o ut to walk the 2\,000 miles south from Maine to Texas. He doesn’t know what he’ll do when he gets there\, and his sister\, Bryn\, doesn’t know where he’s gone. The early chapters of the book toggle between Vi ncent’s journey and his sister’s life back home. Later\, an Ecuadori an mother and her daughter enter the story as they walk north toward the U.S. border. A portion of every book sold will be donated to the Rio Va lley Relief Project\, and the Maine Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project.\n\ n\n\nABOUT ELEANOR MORSEEleanor Morse’s most recent novel\, This Forei gn Land\, launched in July of 2026. A previous novel\, Margreete’s Har bor (St. Martin’s Press\, 2021)\, won the 2022 Maine Literary Fiction Book Award. White Dog Fell from the Sky (Penguin/Viking 2013) was a 2014 Publishers Weekly Pick of the Week and an AudioFile Earphone Award winn er. Her novel\, An Unexpected Forest (Down East Books\, 2007) was the 20 08 Independent Publisher’s Gold Medalist Award winner for Best Regiona l Fiction in the Northeast U.S. and won Best Published Fiction at the 20 08 Maine Literary Awards. Her short stories have been anthologized in No rth by Northeast\, North by Northeast 2\, and Positivity Bias (Littoral Books\, 2019\, 2021\, 2025). Two essays were anthologized in Creativity and Compassion (Good River Books\, 2021). Eleanor earned a B.A. from Swa rthmore College\, a Master of Arts in Teaching from Yale University\, an d an M.F.A. in creative writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. S he has taught in adult education programs\, in prisons\, and in universi ty systems\, both in Maine and in southern Africa\, and was a faculty me mber with the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing in Louisville\, Ke ntucky from 2008 to 2022 (originally called Spalding University’s low- residency M.F.A. in Writing program). She has lived in many places: New York and Ohio growing up\; later\, New Hampshire\, Botswana\, India\, an d the Big Island of Hawaii. Maine is true north now\, with a home on Pea ks Island off the coast of Portland.\n\n\n\nABOUT ROBERT DIAMANTERobert Diamante’s short fiction\, essays\, and articles have appeared in jour nals\, magazines\, and in the anthologies Alive to This\, North by North east\, and North by Northeast 2. His photographs are in the permanent co llections of the University of Southern Maine\, the Brown University Lib rary\, and private collectors and have been published in books and magaz ines worldwide. URL;VALUE=URI:https://downtownbangor.com/events/book-talk-signing-eleano r-morse-in-conversation-with-author-robert-diamante/ UID:urn:uuid:1ca37fb2-d21f-4538-8d8a-1f6cf3c4c571 STATUS:CONFIRMED ORGANIZER: DTSTAMP:20260930T000855Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261006T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261006T200000 LOCATION:27 Central Street END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR