The Sunday Speaker Series

Join the Dorchester Center for the Arts for this two-author presentation! Followed by tea and scones.

THE REAL WOMEN VETERANS OF VIETNAM Journalist Nancy E. Lynch is the author of the award-winning social history, “Vietnam Mailbag, Voices From the War: 1968-1972”. Lynch’s 456-page book is based on the nearly 1,000 letters and hundreds of pictures her popular newspaper column received from our troops on the front lines during the Vietnam War. In her final column in December 1972 she promised “her guys” she would some day put all their correspondence and pictures in a book to honor them. Released on Veterans Day 2008, “Vietnam Mailbag” fulfilled her pledge. In 2009, her tribute, dedicated to all Vietnam veterans, won the first place gold medal from the Independent Publisher Book Awards competition for Best Non-Fiction in the Mid-Atlantic. Lynch, a Delaware resident, travels extensively to increase awareness of the service and sacrif ices of our Vietnam veterans. The University of Delaware graduate began her writing career as a staff reporter for The News Journal in Wilmington, Delaware. For five years her celebrated column, “Nancy’s Vietnam Mailbag,” afforded our troops a unique opportunity to let those at home know where they stood on issues ranging from the war to the weather. Lynch’s column is believed to have been the only of its kind in the country during the unpopular war. A freelance writer for many years, Lynch has contributed numerous articles to regional publications and magazines. Nancy Lynch has written seven books, all non-fiction, and lives in Bethel, DE

CROSSING THE PASS OF CLOUDS: An Army Photographer’s Vietnam Journal This book is an intimate portrait of the last years of the Vietnam War in 147 black-and-white pictures and a series of vignettes written by photographer Lon Holmberg. As the photographer for American Commanding General Creighton Abrams, Holmberg had the opportunity to document pivotal moments involving a range of influential historical figures. Among the many remarkable images Holmberg has captured are photographs of South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu, US Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird, and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger during his journey to China, a trip that paved the way for President Nixon’s historic visit the following year. Holmberg recounts his assignment in the Ashau Valley in the north (a significant infiltration route for the North Vietnamese Army); a daring reconnaissance mission across the border in Laos; and his time at a firebase in central Vietnam near the enigmatic Hai Van Pass (known in English as the Pass of Clouds). Yet even as Holmberg’s photographs look squarely at the realities of war, they also explore beyond it, illuminating the faded elegance of Saigon, the lives of indigenous communities and of farmers working in fields, and the eventual transition of Vietnam into an industrialized society. Lon Holmberg is a documentary photographer and filmmaker whose work includes the PBS documentaries Doing Time and Mending Hearts. He resides on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

THIS PROGRAM IS FREE – ALL ARE WELCOME
https://dorchesterarts.org/event/sunday-speaker-series/