Beflast Free Library

The Belfast Poetry Festival
2025-10-17 10:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Abbott Room
The Belfast Free Library is a community partner and venue for the Belfast Poetry Festival, celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2025.
Workshops at the library begin Friday October 17th, 10:00am
“Exploring The Monstrous” with Michelle Menting, 10:00
“A poetry Workshop for Everyone” with Pamela Alexander, 2:00 pm
” Turning Edna Golden: Exploring Millay & Hayes” with Judy Kaber, 2:00 pm
On Friday October 17th at 7:00pm the second annual Haiku Death Match with host Mattie John Bamman at the Colonial Theater, 163 High Street in Belfast. This tournament-style live haiku showdown was a big hit last year, don’t miss it!
Audience participation determines both the prompts for the haikus and the winner of each head-to-head battle. The last competitor to remain standing will be declared the Haiku Master, and prizes and celebration will ensue! The doors open at 6:30 pm for this free event which starts at 7:00pm. More information at belfastpoetryfestival.com
An exhibit of festival artist Peter Walls will be in the Kramer Gallery and the Abbott Room for the month of October.
Join us Saturday October 18th at 10:30 for a workshop “Ekphrastic Explorations” with Ann Van Buren.
This workshop will take place at the Kramer Gallery at the Belfast Public Library, using Peter Walls’s exhibit and installations as springboards for writing.

Our Immigrant Neighbors
2025-10-20 18:30 - 20:00

Speaker Series: Climate Resilience: What's Going on in our Communities
2025-10-21 18:30 - 20:00
The second talk in the series:
What’s Going on in our Fishing Communities
Clea Harrelson, UMaine Anthropology PhD student will discuss her research on how communities connected to the lobster fishery are navigating social & environmental changes and potential paths forward for resilience.
This speaker series is presented by member organizations of the Waldo County Climate Action Coalition (WCCAC). Programs will take place in the Abbott Room with a Zoom Option.
Register for the Zoom link here
About the speaker:
Clea Harrelson is a PhD student in Anthropology and Environmental Policy at the University of Maine. She is from Tennessee and received her Bachelor’s degree from Colby College and her Master’s degree in Marine Affairs from the University of Rhode Island. Clea has broad experience in social science and science policy through work as a contractor for NOAA’s Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and her time as a Knauss Marine Policy Fellow and Science Assistant at the National Science Foundation. Her research focuses on social resilience in the American lobster fishery across Maine and Canada and the ways in which resilience is defined in the context of the Anthropocene.

Belfast Historical Society Presentation
2025-10-27 19:00 - 20:00
“Packed Like a Can of Sardines” will be the topic of the Belfast Historical Society’s meeting at 7:00 pm, October 27, in the Abbott Room at the Belfast Free Library. Kevin Johnson, Photo archivist at the Penobscot Marine Museum, will present his program illuminating how the sardine industry supported Maine coastal communities for well over a century. The workforce in canneries included thousands of women, even more than the number of men fishing for herring. This industry was a part of the economic, cultural, and social fabric of families and communities all along our state’s coast. The Penobscot Marine Museum will be celebrating this industry in their Welcome to Sardine Land exhibit and photo archivist Kevin Johnson will cast a net into PMM’s photo archives and share many fishy photos and the stories behind them in his presentation.
More info at belfastmuseum.org

Book Release: "When Mist and Brine Touch" by Isabel Tutaine
2025-10-28 18:30 - 20:00
Celebrate the release of Isabel Tutaine’s new novel, When Mist and Brine Touch, from Golden Bridges Publishing with a talk titled “How Many Lies are in One Fiction—The Nature of Truth in Fiction” during which the author administers a test to help you determine whether you are:

The captain of a cargo ship
A useless socialite
A pirate
All of the above
Someone looking for a good book to read

South Africa slide talk with Cloe Chunn
2025-11-03 16:00 - 17:30
On Monday afternoon, Nov. 3, 4:00-5:30, in the Abbott Room, local resident Cloe Chunn will show slides and tell us about her recent 3-week trip to South Africa and Mauritius. Contrary to her effort at giving up air travel, she went with her son and saw what is in his opinion a country doing much better than ours at recovering from racial and gender conflict. It has other lessons to teach us, too: diversity in geology, biology, cultures, and origins.
Register for the Zoom option here.

Belfast Garden Club Program
2025-11-18 12:00 - 13:00
Making the Cut at Fedco Topic of Belfast Garden Club Talk
On Tuesday, November 18, 2025 at noon, Fedco employees Elisabeth Benjamin and Emily Psenka will reveal a few company secrets when they speak to the Belfast Garden Club in the Abbott Room of Belfast Free Library. The talk is free and open to the public.
More information Belfast Garden Club

Speaker Series: What's Going on with Maine's Climate Action Plan
2025-11-18 18:30 - 20:00
Hilary Landfried, Climate Policy Advisor and Maine Climate Council Coordinator with the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future, will give updates and discuss the will discuss the new guide to Maine’s Climate Action Plan and talk about the current implementation strategies.
This series is presented by member organizations of the Waldo County Climate Action Coalition (WCCAC). Programs will take place in the Abbott Room with a Zoom Option
Register for the Zoom link here

Genealogy group meeting
2025-11-19 14:00 - 15:30
Monthly meeting of the Wawenoc Chapter of the Maine Genealogical Society.
All are welcome! These are typically hybrid meetings, with the option to join in-person in the Abbott Room or to join online over Zoom. To receive the Zoom link or for more information, please email Sharon Pietryka at spietryka@belfastlibrary.org.

Genealogy group meeting: Show & Tell
2025-11-19 14:00 - 15:30
Join the Wawenoc Chapter of the Maine Genealogical Society for our annual Show & Tell meeting! We welcome you to bring in something from your family’s history to share its story with the group. It can be anything—a photo, census record, award, jewelry, portrait, watch, etc. All are welcome!
This meeting will have a Zoom option as well. To receive the Zoom link or for more information, please email Sharon Pietryka at spietryka@belfastlibrary.org.

Knit2Together
2025-11-19 16:00
Knitters, crocheters, yarn enthusiasts of all experience levels are welcome to join us every Wednesday , from 4:00-5:30 pm in the Abbott Room.
This drop-in event is a chance for knitters- and crocheters too- of all ages and experience levels to chat, get tips, and learn from each other while working on their own projects. Library staff will have computers available to demonstrate how to use Ravelry.com and other websites to help find patterns and organize your work. Registration is not required. For more information please call 338-3884 ext.10 or email bharrington@belfastlibrary.org.

Policing, Politics & The Law: Connecting the Dots
2025-11-21 16:00 - 17:30
Belfast Senior College and the Belfast Free Library are co-sponsoring this free and open to all discussion.
How do policing, politics and the law intersect and shape our daily lives?
Join us for a lively presentation led by Eli B. Silverman, Ph.D. that unlocks the stories behind the headlines. Current events regarding the actions of federal, state and local law enforcement will be examined. No expertise needed- bring your curiosity, comments and questions.
Our speaker Eli B. Silverman, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center of City University of New York. He has served with the U.S. Department of Justice and National Academy of Public Administration in Washington D.C.

NO KNITTING GROUP TODAY
2025-11-26 16:00
Knit2Together
Knitters, crocheters, yarn enthusiasts of all experience levels are welcome to join us every Wednesday , from 4:00-5:30 pm in the Abbott Room.
This drop-in event is a chance for knitters- and crocheters too- of all ages and experience levels to chat, get tips, and learn from each other while working on their own projects. Library staff will have computers available to demonstrate how to use Ravelry.com and other websites to help find patterns and organize your work. Registration is not required. For more information please call 338-3884 ext.10
Contact bharrington@belfastlibrary.org to sign up to to join the knitting group.

ZOOM ONLY: Speaker Series: Climate Resilience:What's Going on in our Communities
2025-12-02 18:30 - 20:00
What’s Going on with Maine’s Climate: Historical Trends & Future Projections for Resiliency Planning
Sean Birkel, Maine State Climatologist oversees the Maine Climate Office, and provides climate and weather information to Maine stakeholders to facilitate decision-making, policy, and planning. He will present about his findings.
This Program will take place on ZOOM only.
Register for the Zoom link here.
This series is presented by member organizations of the Waldo County Climate (WCCAC).
More info:
Maine’s Climate: Historical Trends & Future Projections for Resilience Planning
In this presentation, we will explore key aspects of Maine’s past and future-projected climate to inform resiliency efforts. Overall, Maine’s climate was warmed by about 3 degrees Fahrenheit, while annual precipitation has increased by about 6 inches. Warming winters affect snow duration, lake ice, and early spring hydrology, all of which have significant ecological and economic impacts. Warming worldwide has intensified the hydrologic cycle, which drives more extremes such as heavy rainfall that can cause impacts from runoff and localized flooding. Sea level along Maine’s coast has meanwhile risen by about 8 inches. Risks from flooding and erosion are increasing, especially during coastal storm events. The talk will conclude with highlighting a new statewide weather-monitoring network that will help improve local forecasts, while also providing high-quality data that will become climate records over time.

2001-2011: A Pivotal Decade of U.S. Diplomatic Engagement in the Middle East
2025-12-16 18:30 - 20:00
Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm was in her first week of Arabic language training at the Foreign Service Institute in Arlington, VA on the morning of September 11, 2001. A year earlier, she was working for the Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, supporting efforts to push forward the Camp David II initiative which nearly brought peace to the region. The events of September 11, 2001 redefined diplomatic engagement in the Middle East and the experience of Micaela’s generation of U.S. Foreign Service Arabists (the officers who committed years of training to be proficient in Arabic). Micaela will recount her experiences, using her personal stories to reflect on wider developments in U.S. diplomacy in the region during this tumultuous decade.
This program is offered as a Camden Conference Community Event in anticipation of the 2026 conference, “Today’s Middle East: Power, Politics, & Players” February 20-22, 2026.
