FARMINGTON, ME (February 25, 2025)—The University of Maine at Farmington is excited to present lyric essayist noam keim as the second reader of the 2025 spring semester schedule of its popular Visiting Writers series.
noam keim
A much celebrated voice, keim’s collection, “The Land is Holy” (Radix Media, 2024), won the 2022 Megaphone Prize and was awarded a 2023 Periplus fellowship. They were an independent study fellow at POCOAPOCO in Oaxaca as well as an artist-in-residence at Space A in Kathmandu.
The reading will take place at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, March 13, in the Landing in the UMF Olsen Student Center where keim will read from their work. The reading is free and open to the public and will be followed by a book signing with the author.
In The Land is Holy keim’s lyrical essays explore diaspora, survival and inherited memory through the resilient flora and fauna of their lineage. Their non-fiction writing weaves themes close to their heart: reverence to the land, healing, colonialism, plants and abolition. Their poetic collection and essays navigate the complexities of home, exile and kinship, urging readers to seek connection with the natural world as a source of healing and resistance.
Of the collection, author Hanif Abdurraqib,writes, “The Land is Holy is a collection overrun with generosity—one that generously asks a reader to consider what they might have taken for granted, what they might still be taking for granted. The stillness and beauty that not only surrounds us, but informs the history of what came before us. An understanding of what has been painted over, repurposed, and colonized and how freedom can still be found, despite.”
Their work has been published in the Kenyon Review, the Massachusetts Review, ALOCASIA Foglifter and others. A current resident of Philadelphia, keim works within the carceral system, building webs of support for those impacted by incarceration.
A graduate of the Esaig Estienne with a BFA in Applied Arts, kiem earned a master from the University Paris Diderot in Anglophone Studies with a concentration in arts and visual culture.
The Land is Holy is available for pre-purchase at the University Store on the UMF campus and Devany, Doak and Garret Booksellers in Farmington.
The Visiting Writer Series is sponsored by the UMF Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program.
More Information on the UMF Creative Writing Program
As the only Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program in the state of Maine and one of only three in all of New England, the UMF program invites students to work with faculty, who are practicing writers, in workshop-style classes to discover and develop their writing strengths in the genres of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. Small classes, an emphasis on individual conferencing, and the development of a writing portfolio allow students to see themselves as artists and refine their writing under the guidance of accomplished and published faculty mentors.
Students can pursue internships to gain real-world writing and publishing experience by working on campus with The Sandy River Review, a student-run literary magazine; or The Farmington Flyer, a university newspaper.
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Media Contact: Amy Neswald, UMF professor of creative writing, at amy.neswald@maine.edu.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Image: https://www.umf.maine.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1/2025/02/RP245-028A.jpg
Photo Caption: noam keim
Photo Credit: Submitted image
Image: https://www.umf.maine.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1/2025/02/RP245-028B.jpg
Photo Credit: Submitted image
