ROCKPORT — The Rockport Public Library is hosting the exhibit “Of Cod and Communities” by Linda Buckmaster from February 3 - 28. The exhibit is adapted from her book Elemental: A Miscellany of Salt Cod and Islands, a finalist in the Maine Literary Awards, which she will be reading from on Saturday, February 3, at 1 p.m. Members of the public are invited to come and share their stories of the fisheries.

For the exhibit, Buckmaster collaborated with Portland designer Lori Harley to create eight 3' x 5' soft fabric banners printed with text and images. They are designed to hang in community spaces such as libraries to reflect the centuries-long interrelationships between the North Atlantic cod and humans.

On February 17, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Buckmaster will be offering a free writing workshop, “Writing Place: Landscape, People, and Story.” The workshop is open to writers of all levels and suitable for writers of poetry, prose, or anything in between. Through exploration, writing exercises, the work of other authors, and discussion, participants will experiment with words to explore a place that calls to them. Participation is limited to twelve writers. Call the library at 207-236-3642 to register.

The exhibit is traveling to seven coastal libraries over the year. Penobscot Marine Museum, in Searsport, is a co-sponsor of the exhibit, which is funded in part by a grant from the Maine Arts Commission, an independent state agency supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Linda Buckmaster has lived within a block of the Atlantic most of her life, growing up in Florida and living in Midcoast Maine for fifty years. She has an MFA from the University of Southern Maine, and her poetry, essay, and fiction have appeared in over forty journals. She was previously the Atlantic and Gulf Editor for “National Fisherman.”  Two of her pieces have been listed as Notable Essays in Best American Essays 2013 and 2020. Her hybrid memoir, Space Heart. A Memoir in Stages, was published by Burrow Press in 2018. Her latest hybrid, Elemental: A Miscellany of Salt Cod and Islands (Huntress Press 2022), is the first installment in a series of creative and eclectic responses to the beauties and realities of islands across the North Atlantic Rim.