CARIBOU, Maine — About a dozen participants took on the challenge of writing, and orating, a microfiction story at the Caribou Public Library on May 22. The rules were simple: the story needed to be under two hundred words and consist of a beginning, middle, and end.
Library Director Anastasia Weigle, who herself read a harrowing non-fiction account detailing the trials of pest removal, said she was surprised by many of the stories, particularly those written by the younger guests.
Children’s Librarian Erin Albers reads a short story during the Caribou Public Library’s microfiction reading event on May 22.
(Christopher Bouchard)
She said she was particularly surprised by the stories read aloud by Samantha, 12, and Connor Albers, 15, (whose mother, Children’s Librarian Erin Albers, also read two stories detailing farm life).
“I like the story Samantha wrote from the eyes of a lamb,” Weigle said. “It was written from the voice of a lamb, and I really didn’t expect to hear a story like that.”
Likewise, Connor Albers’ story, an excerpt from a novel he’s writing, impressed the library director with the quality of dialogue.
“I see potential for him for sure,” said Weigle. “His scene was a shootout in the future, and I asked him if it was from an excerpt of a book he is writing. That surprised me.”
Weigle also applauded the work of high school student Michael Kashian, who wrote a short story “with a lot of depth.”
Wendy Koenig, who hosts a writing workshop at the Caribou Public Library, reads aloud during the library’s May 22 microfiction event. (Christopher Bouchard)
“He wrote a profound story,” Weigle said. “It had a lot of depth; it was about love, loss, and sadness, and revolved around a couple wanting immortality, but they had to consume a living, breathing, blood creature. It didn’t really give them life, it actually brought them closer to death, and it was written in a very mature way.”
Weigle has received copies of all the short stories and plans to combine them into a book binder, with copies made for each of the writers, and then keep one copy for the library’s archives.
So far this year, the Caribou library has hosted both a poetry and limerick event, with the library director stating that many in the area seem to have a penchant for the written word.
“That’s the creative community in this region: it’s writing,” she said. “So we’re going to keep developing programs that give people an opportunity to write. Whatever it may be, I don’t care. It’s really interesting.”
The library currently has reading programs for children, teens, and adults, with a summer reading program, hosted by Erin Albers, as well as a fiction writing workshop hosted by author Wendy Koenig. More information is available on the Caribou Public Library website: http://www.cariboupubliclibrary.org/.
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- Samantha Albers reads a short story from the perspective of a lamb during Caribou Public Library’s May 22 microfiction reading event. (Christopher Bouchard)
