Hermits in the Indian epic Ramayana are depicted in Thai temple paintings photographed and presented in a web-based slide show by LearnNC, a project of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Artistic hermit wanted
Manchester (England) Museum is looking for an ornamental hermit, but with a twist: the solitary resident for a two month stint in the museum’s tower should have an arts or performance background, get to know the collection ahead of time, and produce something that communicates what the museum is all about.
URL: http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/nwh_gfx_en/ART63681.html
New Hampshire hermit
Perley: the True Story of a New Hampshire Hermit is a new book written by Shiela Swett Thompson, granddaughter of Perley Swett, a hermit of Cheshire County. The book is published by the county’s historical society.
Sara Maitland, Scottish writer
Interview article in Scotland on Sunday about Scottish writer Sara Maitland’s semi-autobiographical book A Book of Silence. Maitland, an established novelist and convert to Catholicism, moved to a remote area of Scotland where silence permeates the isolation and her daily life. The interviewer David Ross pursues Maitland’s motives and influences at this stage of her life (she is 58); there are trenchant observations on solitude and death.
URL: http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/spectrum/All-quiet-on-the-western.4669789.jp
Cynthia Bourgeault, hermit teacher
Brief newspaper item from The Gazette (Montreal) about Cynthia Bourgeault, “author, lecturer, workshop leader, Episcopal (Anglican) priest, grandmother … and a hermit.” Bourgeault lives on an island off the coast of Maine. The article notes her home, surroundings, and the role of solitude and silence in her teaching and books.
URL: http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=f642ec80-5331-4c59-8ec1-cae387c7b349
Other websites about Cynthia Bourgeault:
Biography and audio: http://www.contemplative.org/cynthia.html
Sample article “Silence is God’s First Language”: http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Faith-Tools/Meditation/2004/11/Silence-Is-Gods-First-Language.aspx