Not all of Maine's earliest European settlers came voluntarily. On Thursday, Dec. 10 at 10 a.m. Carol Gardner will deliver a virtual chat entitled “Involuntary Americans: Scottish Prisoners in Early Colonial Maine.” She will discuss the more than 400 prisoners of war who were brought to Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts against their will in 1650-1651. Dr. Gardner is the author of a narrative history, “The Involuntary American: A Scottish Prisoner’s Journey to the New World.”

Carol Gardner has more than 30 years’ experience as a writer, journalist and communicator. She earned a PhD in English from Johns Hopkins University. Gardner taught at Johns Hopkins, Wake Forest, and Florida State universities. Gardner has published both fiction and nonfiction pieces in a wide variety of books and periodicals, including the “World of Baseball” series, Blue Planet Quarterly, Northwest Review, Baltimore Review, Potomac Review, The Women’s Review of Books, Portland Press Herald, and The Washington Post. She is a past winner of a Maryland Individual Artists Award. She lives in Alna.

All those wishing to attend this online Chat, through Zoom, may visit Skidompha’s website to sign up (www.skidompha.org). Those attending will be emailed a link prior to the event. 

Chats with Champions is a free community offering from the national award-winning Skidompha Library at 184 Main St., Damariscotta. This program is generously sponsored by Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shop. For more information, please call the Library at 563-5513.