BELFAST — Renowned Franco-American author Rhea Côté Robbins visited the Belfast City Library July 9 as a part of its Maine Writers Talk About series. The series, which began in May, invited six different Maine writers to choose a topic about their craft to discuss, as well as reading from some of their works.

Côté Robbins, who wrote Wednesday's Child, the 1997 winner of the Maine Chapbook Award, chose to focus her talk on what it means to be a Franco-American writer in today's society – specifically in Maine. Côté Robbins was raised in a predominantly Franco-American neighborhood in Waterville known as "down on the Plains."

During her talk Côté Robbins touched on the inner conflict she experienced being brought up bilingual, "When I was 5, I told my parents I would no longer speak French," she said. "At that age, I chose my language – people still spoke to me in French, but I answered only in English."

Many in the audience were surprised to hear Côté Robbins speak about the persecution of French-American citizens, specifically in New England, in the early 20th century. Côté Robbins also touched on the forced sterilization of many French-American Catholics in Vermont after a sterilization law was passed in 1931 – one that targeted French-American Catholics, among others.

These persecutions included an active Ku Klux Klan chapter in Brunswick during the 1920s, which targeted not only African Americans and Jews, but also Catholics. Most of the Catholics targeted were those emigrating from Quebec, Canada.

Côté Robbins said her own path back to her "roots" took time, but was necessary. "The power of people's lives is in their stories," she said. Côté Robbins said her own abandonment of her culture beginning at just 5 years old lead to a loss of self. "I have to work every day to get my language back," she said.

Many in the audience seemed unaware of the plight Franco-American citizens faced as recently as 1967, when laws in Maine prohibiting the speaking of French outside of language classrooms were finally taken off the books. Côté Robbins said the stigma led many to change their names.

"Being French was a problem," she said. Even more recently, when Côté Robbins talked with the Maine Historical Society about carrying her book, the owner of the bookstore at the time simply refused. She said, "And the owner, was herself, a Franco-American woman. The book [Wednesday's Child] was seen as controversial, and so it wasn't allowed in."

Côté Robbins said she still experiences resistance from some Franco-Americans to participate in and acknowledge their culture in public ways. "[But] you cannot deny your culture. You can either lean in, or lean out," she said about acknowledging one's heritage. "And we're leaning back, generationally."

Côté Robbins told the audience that even when she was a child, after she'd begun refusing to speak French, her father always told her, "You'll be back." And Côté Robbins said that's the same sentiment she is struck with when met with resistance from fellow Franco-Americans.

"There's grief in people who leave their culture," Côté Robbins said. "Not only grief, but guilt in having lost the language and the culture."

She told the audience she feels it's important not to leave traditions behind, but to incorporate them into your own experiences. "What is modern Franco-American culture?" Côté Robbins recounted being asked. "The truth is I'm not sure." One thing is for sure, and that is that things can, and do change. That same bookstore whose owner had refused to carry her book eventually changed owners, and her works are now available.

"Someday, when the gatekeeper's gone, change can happen," she said.

Côté Robbins, who currently resides in Brewer with her husband, teaches literature courses in Franco-American women's experiences at the University of Maine. Additionally, she is working to edit a book of Franco-American women writers' active during the earlier part of the century. She is also the founder and executive director of the Franco-American Women's Institute.

To reach Erica Thoms, email news@penbaypilot.com.