51С�Ƴ�

Jefferson Navicky, M.F.A., the archivist for the  on the University of 51С�Ƴ�’s Portland Campus, recently published his fourth book, “Head of Island Beautification for the Rural Outlands.”

The novel, a series of interlinked prose poems, follows protagonist William Harrison Brown, known as “Bird,” as he returns to the island of his youth and attempts to make peace with his identity as a son, islander, and writer in a family of visual artists, finding solace in a 1961 Underwood typewriter.

Navicky remarked that the book is part history of grief, part exploration of ghosts and hauntings, part philosophy of landscape painting, and part meditation on the nature of islands.

The archivist is a three-time Maine Literary Award winner, having taken home the top prize in 2022 for his poetry collection “Antique Densities: Modern Parables & Other Experiments in Short Prose” and in 2020 for his short manuscript of poems, “Other Fathers and Other Poems.”

In 2017, he took home the award for drama for his play, “Redwing Solitaire.”

Navicky explained that the book’s plot and themes grew from an exhibition of Harrison Bird Brown paintings displayed at the Portland Museum of Art in 2007.

“It’s especially meaningful to me that the book’s cover is a map of the novel’s fictional island, Aquaneck Island, made by my friend, Joey Chernila, and the beautiful typewriter image on the back cover was made by my friend Alex Rheault, who also teaches at UNE,” he stated. “It means a great deal to me to see ‘Head of Island Beautification for the Rural Outlands’ into print.”

A launch event for the book will be held Sunday, March 5, at 3 p.m. at Meetinghouse Arts in Freeport. Sponsored by the Maine Writers and Publisher's Alliance, Sherman's Maine Coast Bookshop of Freeport, and Meetinghouse Arts, the event is free, but

Navicky will read from the new book, engage in discussion with former Maine Poet Laureate Betsy Sholl, and take questions from the audience. Music will be provided by Eric Schwan.