The Camden Yacht Club will host two world-class artists, both with local connections, for an evening of music and poetry.

Bennett Konesni, who grew up on Islesboro and currently lives in Appleton, will share songs from the 1900s recordings of Searsport native Joanna Colcord’s collection of sea shanties.

He will lead a lively discussion of the successes and challenges he’s encountered during his efforts to revive these songs through recreational and competitive boating in the 21st century. Konesni was naturally drawn to the communities of sailing, farming, and old-time music.

He has a history of sailing on Penobscot Bay in small racing boats and in tall ships, where he learned traditional work songs. He attended Middlebury College where he founded the student farm and did undergraduate studies with his Thomas Watson fellowship studying work songs in South Africa, Europe, and Asia. He recently co-founded Sylvestor Manor in Shelter Island, New York, where he teaches sea shanties and work songs. As Curator of Worksongs.org, he has launched the Worksong Project with song collections from all over the world via the internet. You can find Bennett in fields in Belfast, Maine, and on Shelter Island, New York, garlic shucking and planting and singing.

The poet is Kristen Lindquist, a freelance writer and author from Camden, whose works have appeared in Downeast Magazine, Bangor Metro, Bangor Daily News, and many journals.

She was a finalist for the Maine Literary Award with her first full length poetry collection: Transportation. Her most recent book, Tourists in the Known World: New and Selected Poems was published in 2017. Kristen attended Middlebury College and holds an MFA in poetry from the University of Oregon. An avid birder, she leads bird walks all over the state.

She writes a natural history column for the Pen Bay Pilot. Kristen will read poems inspired by life on the Maine seacoast, especially Monhegan Island, where she spends several weeks during spring and fall bird migrations.