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  • How Populism Works: Erdogan’s Path to Authoritarianism in Turkey

    Rockland Public Library 80 Union Street, Rockland, ME, United States

    This talk explores how Erdoğan’s increasing reliance on populist discourse and style throughout his tenure contributed to the rise of an authoritarian regime sustained by popular support. It highlights how the performative and emotional dimensions of these strategies can help autocratic leaders garner support and reinforce their perceived authenticity, particularly when their legitimacy is under […]

  • El-Shaarawi

    Author Nadia El-Shaarawi, ‘Collateral Damages’

    Blue Hill Public Library 5 Parker Point Road, Blue Hill, ME, United States

    As part of the Camden Conference Series of Community Events, the Blue Hill Library is sponsoring an author talk with Colby College Associate Professor Nadia El-Shaarawi on Thursday, December 4 at 7PM in the library’s Howard Room. Join for a discussion on refugees and displacement in the Middle East, and of Nadia’s recently released book, […]

  • Robert Morrison

    Merchants of Knowledge: Intellectual Exchange in the Ottoman Empire & Renaissance Europe

    Camden Public Library 55 Main Street, Camden, ME, United States

    The science of Islamic societies from the twelfth through sixteenth centuries was crucial for Renaissance science. Muslim scholars also greatly benefitted from knowledge coming out of Europe. In this presentation, Professor Morrison will discuss the merchants of knowledge—multilingual and transregional Jewish scholars—who became an important bridge among the powers. Robert G. Morrison is George Lincoln Skolfield, […]

  • Fatima Saidi

    Building Bridges

    Portland Public Library 5 Monument Square, Portland, ME, United States

    In association with the 2026 Camden Conference, Today’s Middle East: Power, Politics & Players, please join PPL on December 11, where we will get to hear from Fatima Saidi on displacement, immigration, and navigating identity. Fatima’s specialty is storytelling. Drawing from her lived experience, she uses narrative as a powerful tool to advocate for policy […]

  • Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm

    2001-2011: A Pivotal Decade of U.S. Diplomacy in the Middle East

    Belfast Free Library 106 High Street, Belfast, ME, United States

    On the morning of September 11, 2001, when hijacked jetliners brought down the World Trade Center towers, attacked the Pentagon, and killed passengers and crew in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm was in her first week of Arabic language training at the Foreign Service Institute in Arlington, Virginia. The devastating attacks redefined U.S. diplomatic engagement in […]

  • Shavarsh Trio

    The Shavarsh Trio: Music & Instruments of the Middle East

    Falmouth Memorial Library 5 Lunt Road, Falmouth, ME, United States

    The Shavarsh Trio - Eric LaPerna, Jeremey Zela and Leo LaZarate - perform a captivating blend of folk, art, and classical music from Armenian, Greek, Turkish, and Arabic traditions, using an array of traditional string, wind, and percussion instruments from the Middle East. Eric LaPerna plays multiple instruments, specializing in Middle Eastern hand drums and […]

  • Bill Hall

    Turkey: A View from the Middle

    Falmouth Memorial Library 5 Lunt Road, Falmouth, ME, United States

    Turkey is a middle power located in the Middle East - indeed, a land in the middle between Europe and Asia. Turkey has always been a challenging ally of the United States, but the country played an essential part in the days of the Cold War countering Soviet influence. Now Turkey is invested in and […]

  • Mark Van Baalen

    Rivers of the Middle East

    Rockport Public Library 1 Limerock St., Rockport

    The Middle East is a generally arid region with few rivers. But as a result, the rivers that do flow there have an outsized importance, both physically and historically. In fact, some of these resources are listed among the great rivers of the world. This talk will focus on a few of these rivers and […]

  • Readers Circle Enter Ghost

    Readers’ Circle: A Group Discussion of ‘Enter Ghost’ by Isabella Hammad

    Merrill Memorial Library 215 Main Street, Yarmouth, ME, United States

    For January Readers’ Circle will discuss the book Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad. The book follows Sonia Nasir, a British-Palestinian actress who returns to Palestine after a personal crisis in London. Reconnecting with her roots and her estranged sister in Haifa, Sonia becomes involved in a politically charged Arabic-language production of Hamlet in the West […]

  • El-Shaarawi

    Refugees in the Middle East and North Africa: The Politics and Lived Experiences of Displacement

    Camden Public Library 55 Main Street, Camden, ME, United States

    There are more than 123 million people displaced in the world today, many of whom hail from, or live in, the Middle East and North Africa. Why has this region experienced so much forced migration and what is the significance of these many layered movements? Nadia El-Shaarawi will discuss the contours of displacement in and […]