LOCKPORT — On Wednesday, February 8, at 6:30 pm, the Lockport Public Library at 1 Rimrock Street welcomed author Scott Dickerson to a presentation of his new novel, Telling Stone. Richly imagined on the basis of archaeological finds and Ice Age ecology, ‘Telling Stone’ tells the story of the origins of art and the lives of early artists. Dickerson’s presentation will take place directly in the Lockport Room on the lower level of the library.
Who were these Paleolithic hunter-gatherers? How did they live? what did they believe? Why did they create art on cave walls 23,500 years ago? Dickerson’s novel explores these issues.
The story follows Okyo, a young man who “speaks stone” by sculpting with flint tools and painting with powdered rock in order to honor the animals that keep or threaten the band and confront the dark forces deep within the cavern. As unconventional as his art is, he is bound by the band’s strict traditions. He roams the deserted lands and finds refuge by painting and sculpting on stone walls, but he never abandons his hopes of living and creating in his own band. His hopes of finding a hearthmate are contradicted by another tradition. Once he finds her, he has to live with her band. Will his art be accepted by them?
Dickerson is a conservation biologist. hunters and gatherers; artists; designers and manufacturers of fine furniture. He lives on a small farm in coastal Maine, where he “has cantaloupe and enjoys sweet his corn.” His first book, To Save a River (Aperture, 2002), tells the story of the endangered Atlantic his salmon in Maine’s rivers. “The Telling Stone” is his first novel.
“Telling Stone” is published by Maine Authors Publishing & Collaborative. Copies of the book are available for purchase at the event.
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