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Join award winning writers Rick Bass and Ellyn Gaydos for a lunch time event in celebration of Gaydos’ beautiful debut memoir, PIG YEARS, a book Anthony Doerr is calling “a pulsing, keen, and startling testimony to the glories and sorrows of raising and harvesting plants and animals.”

Drawn from over a decade of Gaydos’ life as an itinerant pig farmer in Vermont and New York, PIG YEARS draws us into the cycles of seasons, of raising and slaughtering animals, of living in the wake of rebirth and death. It conjures the pleasure and value or work on a small farm, and also its constant difficulty. Join Bass and Gaydos for a discussion of her book and of living on the land, of what emerges from a closer relationship to seasons, and the value of labor in a society where work is so often abstracted.

Ellyn Gaydos received an M.F.A. in nonfiction from Columbia University. Her work has received the Richard J. Margolis Award for nonfiction writers of social justice journalism, and appeared in The Texas Review, Columbia Journal, and Ninth Letter, where she received the 2017 award for creative nonfiction. She lives in New Lebanon, New York.

Mechanics’ Hall Covid Policies:

To ensure the safety of our staff, guests, and community, and under the direction of our Board, Mechanics’ Hall requires proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 (or an appropriately time-stamped negative COVID-19 test) for all persons attending our events until further notice. All persons must masked for the duration of their time in the Hall, regardless of vaccination status in accordance with our current Masking Policies. This decision was made to help keep our community safe and our doors open. Please see our programming page for more details, or email us at info@mainemechanics.org