Join us for a conversation with Marpheen Chann, author of Moon in Full: A Modern Day Coming-of-Age Story—a featured title for Maine Humanities Council’s 2024 Read ME and one of Maine's featured books for the Library of Congress’ 2024 National Book Festival. Marpheen Chann will reflect on his writing and read passages from his book. Following a short talk, he will be joined by friend and State Rep. Laurie Osher (Orono) for a conversation and Q&A with the audience.

This program is sponsored by a Maine Humanities Council Maine Speaks grant.

About Marpheen

Marpheen Chann is an award-winning author, writer, thinker, advocate, and speaker on intersectionality, inclusion, and belonging. As a gay, first-generation Asian American born in California to a Cambodian refugee family and later adopted by an evangelical, white working-class family in Maine, Marpheen uses a mix of humor and storytelling to help people view topics such as racism, xenophobia, and homophobia through an intersectional lens. His memoir, Moon in Full, won the bronze IPPY Award for LGBTQ Nonfiction and was a finalist for the Maine Literary Awards and The Eric Hoffer Book Award. He became the first Cambodian American-elected official in Maine in 2021 when he was elected as an At-Large Charter Commissioner for the City of Portland, Maine.

Marpheen Chann lives in Portland, Maine. He works in the nonprofit and advocacy sector as Executive Director and Founder of Khmer Maine and as a consultant. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Southern Maine, a law degree from the University of Maine School of Law, and a certificate from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Find Marpheen on the web:  Website, Facebook @MarpheenChann, Instagram @MarpheenChann, X @marpheenchann

About Laurie

Laurie Osher is a scientist, entrepreneur, activist, and politician.  She formerly served as an Orono Town Councilor and now represents Orono (House District 25) in the Maine Legislature.  She is also the Community Resilience Specialist at Eastern Maine Development Corporation (EMDC). 

She is the leader of the Maine Legislature’s LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus, a member of the Jewish Legislator’s Caucus, and a founder and leader of the Progressive Women's Caucus. She has served on the Legislature’s Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee, the State’s HIV Advisory Committee, the Secretary of State’s State Calendar working group, and the Maine Climate Council’s Natural and Working Lands Working Group. 

In her two terms in Augusta, she's introduced legislation to revise the tax system to make it fairer, to fully fund services for adults with disabilities, to create harm reduction healthcare centers as a tool to save lives, to protect the providers of gender-affirming care in Maine, and to improve Wabanaki Studies in Maine schools.  She supports raising the minimum wage and works to pass bills ensuring the civil rights of LGBTQ+ and other marginalized people and bills recognizing the sovereignty of Maine’s indigenous nations.

In her work with EMDC, she assists communities in Penobscot, Aroostook and Piscataquis Counties to be more resilient to extreme weather events. 

About Moon in Full

Moon in Full, a contemporary coming-of-age story, shines a light on one young man’s search for truth and compassion in a complicated era as it unwinds the deep-seated challenges we all face in finding our authentic voice and true identities. Author Marpheen Chann’s heart-warming journey weaves through housing projects and foster homes; into houses of worship and across college campuses; and playing out in working-class Maine where he struggles to find his place. Adopted into a majority white community, Chann must reconcile his fears and secret longings as a young gay man with the devoutly religious beliefs of his new family. Chann, a second-generation Asian American, recounts what he has learned, what he has lost, and what he has found during his evolution from a hungry refugee’s son to a religious youth to advocate for acceptance and equality.

“An earnest and well-written account of a search for self.” – Kirkus Reviews

2024 Read ME Pick

2024 All Books Considered June Pick

2023 Eric Hoffer First Horizon Award Finalist

2023 Maine Literary Award Finalist

2023 IPPY Award Bronze Medal - LGBTQ Non-fiction