Continuing our 2022 focus of Immigration in the Midcoast region, Pejepscot History Center presents:

Dear Maine: The Trials and Triumphs of Maine’s 21st Century Immigrants

Speaker: Author Reza Jalali, Executive Director, Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center

Thursday, February 10, Noon, via Zoom

Published in December by Islandport Press, the book Dear Maine recounts the experiences of twenty immigrants who have arrived in Maine over the past few decades. Compiled by Jalali, an Iranian Kurd and former refugee, and Morgan Rielly, a Bowdoin College graduate who worked abroad with Syrian and Iraqi refugees while a student, the stories featured in the book highlight how much recent immigrants to Maine have enriched their communities.

Jalali will share some of the stories from the book and talk about we can embrace and support the New Mainers that have arrived in the Greater Brunswick area over the past couple of years, thereby weaving them into the historical narrative of immigration to the Pejepscot region. The book features black and white photographic portraits by Lilit Danielyan, originally from Armenia and Kazakhstan.

Image: Cover of "Dear Maine: The Trials and Triumphs of Maine’s 21st Century Immigrants" by Morgan Rielly and Reza Jalali.