Erik Larson Book Launch & Conversation with Richard Russo
May
20
7:00 PM19:00
Readings & Talks

Erik Larson Book Launch & Conversation with Richard Russo

Join Print: A Bookstore and the MWPA (Maine Writers' and Publishers' Alliance) for a very special event celebrating bestselling author Erik Larson's newest book, The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War in conversation with Richard Russo at Stevens Square Community Center on Monday, May 20th, at 7 PM.

Larson, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Splendid and the Vile brings to life the pivotal five months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the start of the Civil War—a simmering crisis that finally tore a deeply divided nation in two. The Demon of Unrest has been named a Most Anticipated Book of the Year by Time, Men’s Health, and Lit Hub.

Tickets are required. Each ticket is $40 and will include 1 general admission seat at the event, and 1 copy of The Demon of Unrest. Every attendee needs their own ticket. There will be no admittance without a ticket.

Erik Larson is the author of six national bestsellers: The Splendid and the Vile, Dead Wake, In the Garden of Beasts, Thunderstruck, The Devil in the White City, and Isaac's Storm, which have collectively sold more than ten million copies. His books have been published in nearly twenty countries.

Richard Russo is the author of ten novels, most recently Somebody’s Fool, Everybody’s Fool and Chances Are…; two collections of stories; and the memoir Elsewhere. In 2002 he received the Pulitzer Prize for Empire Falls, which, like Nobody’s Fool, was adapted into a multiple-award-winning miniseries; in 2017, he received France’s Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine. He lives in Port­land.

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Maine Literary Awards Ceremony
May
30
6:00 PM18:00
Maine Literary Awards, Readings & Talks

Maine Literary Awards Ceremony

Please join the MWPA for our favorite night of the year, a community celebration of great writing and writers from all over Maine. We will laugh, cry, and applaud excellent Maine writing from the last year!

Doors open at 6 PM for a reception with snacks and a cash bar; the ceremony begins at 7 PM.

Finalist books will be for sale.

The event is free, but we ask that you RSVP if you are able to join us in person because seating is limited. If you would like to make a suggested ticket donation, we appreciate it!

To to attend online, please click below to register for the Zoom link.

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Jun
14
5:00 PM17:00
Readings & Talks, Maine Crime Wave

An Evening of Crime (Writing)!

Please join the MWPA on the opening night of the Maine Crime Wave! Doors open at 5 PM with free appetizers, a cash bar, and book signing. At 5:45 PM, we will give this year’s Maine CrimeMaster Award to NYT Bestselling Author Michael Koryta, followed by a conversation between Koryta and book reviewer Katrina Niidas Holm.

At 7 PM, we will host a Two Minutes in the Slammer reading. A fabulous group of Maine crime writers will each share rip-roaring two minute samples of their work. Crime writer Zakariah Johnson will MC the reading.

These events all take place on the 7th floor of the Glickman Family Library. Parking is available for free on neighborhood streets a few minutes walk away or for $4/hr in the USM Parking Garage at 88 Bedford St.

This is a free event, and we ask that you please RSVP and save your seat by clicking on the orange button.

To register for the full Maine Crime Wave on Saturday, June 15 with panels, workshops book signings, conversations, and more happening from 9 AM to 5 PM, please go to the Maine Crime Wave page.

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Juneteenth: Poems of Reckoning & Resilience
Jun
19
2:00 PM14:00
Readings & Talks

Juneteenth: Poems of Reckoning & Resilience

Please join the MWPA and the Portland Museum of Art as we honor the legacy and ongoing transformative force of Black America’s creativity, transcendency, and liberation in a Juneteenth poetry reading. Two well-loved local poets and Ashley Bryan Fellows, Bates College Professor Ian-Khara Ellasante and Portland’s Poet Laureate Maya Williams, will share their wisdom and wonder, and then our featured poet Nathan McClain will share his unflinching and lyrical work.

Multi-award winning poet John Murillo says, "Nathan McClain's Previously Owned is no-nonsense, meat and potatoes, good gotdam poetry,” and Publisher Weekly calls McClain’s first book, Scale, “atmospheric and graceful in its depiction of the steady ache that comes when absence permeates a life.”

The reading is free and will take place in the Great Hall at the Portland Museum of Art.

Nathan McClain is a poet, editor, and educator living in Amherst, Massachusetts. He is the author of Scale (Four Way Books, 2017) and Previously Owned (Four Way Books, 2022), and his poems and prose have recently appeared, or are forthcoming, in Poetry Northwest, Green Mountains Review, Poem-a-Day, The Common, The Critical Flame, and upstreet, among others. He is Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and African American Literary Arts at Hampshire College, and serves as Poetry Editor of The Massachusetts Review.

Maya Williams (ey/em, they/them, and she/her) is a religious Black multiracial nonbinary suicide survivor who is currently an Ashley Bryan Fellow and the seventh Poet Laureate of Portland, Maine . Maya's debut poetry collection, Judas & Suicide, is available through Game Over Books. And Maya's second poetry collection, Refused a Second Date, is available through Harbor Editions. She graduated with a community practice-focused Masters in Social Work and Certificate in Applied Arts and Social Justice at the University of New England in May 2018. She graduated with a Masters in Fine Arts for Creative Writing with a Focus in Poetry at Randolph College in June 2022.

Ian-Khara Ellasante (they/them) is a Black, queer, trans-nonbinary parent, partner, poet, and cultural studies scholar. Ian-Khara’s poetry has been published in We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics, Pipe Wrench, The Feminist Wire, Nat. Brut, Hinchas de Poesía, The Volta, Writing the Land: Maine, and From Root to Seed: Black, Brown, and Indigenous Writers Write the Northeast (forthcoming). Ian-Khara is a VONA alum whose awards and honors include the 2023 Cave Canem Fellowship, the New Millennium Award for Poetry, the Ashley Bryan Fellowship, and the Point Foundation Scholarship. Their critical writing, including the essay “Dear Trans Studies, Can You Do Love?,” has appeared in Transgender Studies Quarterly, Ethnic and Racial Studies, and Families in Society. Proudly hailing from Memphis, Ian-Khara has also loved living and writing in Tucson, Brooklyn, and most recently, in southern Maine, where they teach Gender and Sexuality Studies and Africana at Bates College. 

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Gather 57
May
15
6:00 PM18:00
Gather

Gather 57

Please join us for the hybrid edition of MWPA’s beloved GATHER event series! On Wednesday, May 15, 2024 at 6:00 PM, MWPA members & friends can attend an in-person Gather at one of several locations around the state OR choose to participate in an online Gather.

To sign up for an online Gather, click the corresponding RSVP link below. On the afternoon of the Gather date, you’ll receive an email with a link to join your Gather on Zoom.

To join an in-person event, find the most convenient location below, and gather with us!

Please note: A couple of our regular Gather locations will not be meeting this month, and some new Gathers have begun or recently rejoined the mix. Please check the details below very closely. You can reach out to your local Gather host for questions and concerns surrounding COVID protocols and precautions, and we encourage you to join an online Gather if in-person events become unsafe or inaccessible for you. For more information, contact Samara at: samara@mainewriters.org.

About GATHER: GATHER encourages members (and their friends!) to meet and mingle with fellow members in locations around Maine for camaraderie and conversation. There is no agenda to GATHER besides getting together with your community of fellow writers and literary professionals to talk writing, reading, and life.

While GATHER events are not open readings, manuscript exchanges, or organized writing-prompt sessions, they are opportunities for literary-minded folks to meet and plan any of those things and more. Food and drink is most always available for purchase.

Online Gathers:

POETRY
Host: Jefferson Navicky and Jeri Theriault
RSVP HERE

In-Person Events:

AROOSTOOK
Hosts: Kathryn Olmstead & Kim Wright (olmstead@maine.edu, bkwrights75@gmail.com)
Location: The Library House for a Potluck (228 State St, Presque Isle)

BANGOR
Host: Annaliese Jakimides (a.jakimides@gmail.com)
Location: Sea Dog Brewing (26 Front St, Bangor)

BLUE HILL
Host: Sarah Pebworth (sapebworth@gmail.com)
Location: Marlintini's Grill (83 Mines Rd, Blue Hill)

BRUNSWICK
Host: Claire Baldwin & Katie Coppens (clairelucebaldwin@gmail.com , ktcoppens@gmail.com)
Location: The Abbey (87 Maine St, Brunswick)

DAMARISCOTTA
Host: Andrea Vassallo (andrea.granted@gmail.com)
Location: The Damariscotta River Grill (155 Main St, Damariscotta)

LUBEC
Host: JD Rule (jdrule@lubecscribbler.com)
Location: Lubec Brewing Co (41 S Water St, Lubec)

SOUTH PORTLAND
Host: Cheryl Gillespie (cherylgillespie88@gmail.com)
Location: Bridgeway Restaurant (71 Ocean St, South Portland)

WATERVILLE
Host: Tyler French & Catie Joyce Bulay (tfrench@colby.edu, catiejoycebulay@gmail.com)
Location: Lounge of Front & Main (9 Main St, Waterville)

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Living Legacy: A Conversation with the Ashley Bryan Fellows
Mar
30
11:00 AM11:00
Lore, Readings & Talks

Living Legacy: A Conversation with the Ashley Bryan Fellows

Please note: This event has been postponed until next week due to reports of messy commutes in the Portland area and throughout the state. If you have signed up for this event, you should receive updates via email. You can also check back in here and on social media for more details to come. We apologize for the frustration and disappointment of this last-minute decision. We just want everyone to stay safe.

LORE is a space for the BIPOC community to connect, create, and collaborate.

In honor of the priceless and intangible legacy left to us by the beloved ancestor Ashley Bryan (left) and upheld by so many BIPOC creatives, our next LORE event will be a reading and discussion, cohosted by our partners at Indigo Arts Alliance and featuring (clockwise from top left) Dania Bowie, Kendric Chua, Liz Iversen, Minquansis Sapiel, and Stacey Tran. These Fellows will be sharing their original writing with us and connecting with each other and with our community though conversation about their work and approaches to writing in these uncertain times.

Please note: This event is open to the public, and all who celebrate our diverse creative community are welcome and invited to attend.

This event is free to the public, but seating is limited, and we ask that you RSVP by clicking on the button below.

For more about the Ashley Bryan Fellowship Program, please find our history and values statement.

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Living Legacy: A Conversation with the Ashley Bryan Fellows
Mar
23
11:00 AM11:00
Lore, Readings & Talks

Living Legacy: A Conversation with the Ashley Bryan Fellows

POSTEPONED

Please note: This event has been postponed until next week due to reports of messy commutes in the Portland area and throughout the state. If you have signed up for this event, you should receive updates via email. You can also check back in here and on social media for more details to come. We apologize for the frustration and disappointment of this last-minute decision. We just want everyone to stay safe.

LORE is a space for the BIPOC community to connect, create, and collaborate.

In honor of the priceless and intangible legacy left to us by the beloved ancestor Ashley Bryan (left) and upheld by so many BIPOC creatives, our next LORE event will be a reading and discussion, cohosted by our partners at Indigo Arts Alliance and featuring (clockwise from top left) Dania Bowie, Kendric Chua, Liz Iversen, Johan Alexander F, Minquansis Sapiel, and Stacey Tran. These Fellows will be sharing their original writing with us and connecting with each other and with our community though conversation about their work and approaches to writing in these uncertain times.

Please note: This event is open to the public, and all who celebrate our diverse creative community are welcome and invited to attend.

This event is free to the public, but seating is limited, and we ask that you RSVP by clicking on the button below.

For more about the Ashley Bryan Fellowship Program, please find our history and values statement.

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Gather 56
Mar
20
6:00 PM18:00
Gather

Gather 56

Please join us for the hybrid edition of MWPA’s beloved GATHER event series! On Wednesday, March 20, 2023 at 6:00 PM, MWPA members & friends can attend an in-person Gather at one of several locations around the state OR chose to participate in an online Gather.

To sign up for an online Gather, click the corresponding RSVP link below. On the afternoon of the Gather date, you’ll receive an email with a link to join your Gather on Zoom.

To join an in-person event, find the most convenient location below, and gather with us!

Please note: A couple of our regular Gather locations will not be meeting this month, and some new Gathers have begun or recently rejoined the mix. Please check the details below very closely. You can reach out to your local Gather host for questions and concerns surrounding COVID protocols and precautions, and we encourage you to join an online Gather if in-person events become unsafe or inaccessible for you. For more information, contact Samara at: samara@mainewriters.org.

About GATHER: GATHER encourages members (and their friends!) to meet and mingle with fellow members in locations around Maine for camaraderie and conversation. There is no agenda to GATHER besides getting together with your community of fellow writers and literary professionals to talk writing, reading, and life.

While GATHER events are not open readings, manuscript exchanges, or organized writing-prompt sessions, they are opportunities for literary-minded folks to meet and plan any of those things and more. Food and drink is most always available for purchase.

Online Gathers:

POETRY
Host: Jeri Theriault
RSVP HERE

In-Person Events:

AROOSTOOK
Hosts: Kathryn Olmstead & Kim Wright (olmstead@maine.edu, bkwrights75@gmail.com)
Location: Governor’s (350 Main St, Presque Isle)

BANGOR
Host: Annaliese Jakimides (a.jakimides@gmail.com)
Location: Sea Dog Brewing (26 Front St, Bangor)

BLUE HILL
Host: Marie Epply (mmepply@yahoo.com)
Location: Martilini’s Grill (83 Mines Rd, Blue Hill)

BRUNSWICK
Host: Claire Baldwin & Katie Coppens (clairelucebaldwin@gmail.com , ktcoppens@gmail.com)
Location: The Abbey (87 Maine St, Brunswick)

DAMARISCOTTA
Host: Andrea Vassallo (andrea.granted@gmail.com)
Location: The Damariscotta River Grill (155 Main St, Damariscotta)

LUBEC
Host: JD Rule (jdrule@lubecscribbler.com)
Location: Lubec Brewing Co (41 S Water St, Lubec)

SOUTH PORTLAND
Host: Cheryl Gillespie (cherylgillespie88@gmail.com)
Location: Bridgeway Restaurant (71 Ocean St, South Portland)

WATERVILLE
Host: Tyler French & Catie Joyce Bulay (tfrench@colby.edu, catiejoycebulay@gmail.com)
Location: Lounge of Front & Main (9 Main St, Waterville)

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BIPOC Writing Group
Mar
5
6:00 PM18:00
Lore

BIPOC Writing Group

LORE is a space for the BIPOC community to connect, create, and collaborate.

Ashley Bryan Fellow Stacey Tran invites local Writers of Color to come together and create in a new, safe-space writing group.

"I'm imagining a long table where we can all sit together quietly to write and talk about writing over tea, snacks, gentle music in the background...If this kind of atmosphere is enticing to you, and if you'd like to have a communal writing space to connect with fellow writers of color in the area in person or on Zoom, I'd love to invite you to (the second of these) meetups on Tuesday, March 5, 6-8pm at Indigo Arts Alliance in Portland, ME. If you know someone who would appreciate a space like this, please feel free to invite them, as well."

RSVP to join this group and to receive updates.

Time: 6:00 PM

Date: Tuesday, March 5

Location: Indigo Arts Alliance (60 Cove St, Portland, ME 04101) AND online. Please email Stacey for the join link: stactran@gmail.com.

There will be light refreshments and time for connecting with each other and quiet writing.

Questions about this event and other LORE happenings can be addressed to Samara Cole Doyon at samara@mainewriters.org.

For more about the Ashley Bryan Fellowship Program, please find our history and values statement.

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The Poetry of Winter: Book Launch for Mike Bove’s EYE
Feb
22
6:00 PM18:00
Readings & Talks

The Poetry of Winter: Book Launch for Mike Bove’s EYE

Please join Print: A Bookstore, MWPA, and Mechanics’ Hall for a celebration of Maine winter through poetry.

 The poems in Mike Bove’s newest collection, EYE, were written over the course of a nor’easter that buried Southern Maine in heavy snow. Meditations on memory, grief, family, and nature, they reveal the power of icy weather to inspire reflection and exploration.

 Part poetry reading, part conversation, this event will feature Mike in poetic discussion with six acclaimed Maine poets, joining together in warm, wintry community.

Please RSVP for this free event by clicking on the button below.

Mike Bove is the author of four books of poems, most recently Soundtrack to Your Next Panic Attack (forthcoming from Aldrich Press, 2024) and EYE (Spuyten Duyvil 2023). His work has appeared in journals in the US, UK, and Canada. He was winner of the 2021 Maine Postmark Poetry Contest and a 2023 finalist for a Maine Literary Award in poetry. He is Professor of English at Southern Maine Community College and lives with his family in Portland, Maine where he was born and raised.

Samaa Abdurraqib lives in Brunswick - ancestral land of the Abenaki people. Recently, her work can be found in Obsidian: Literature and Arts in the African Diaspora, Writing the Land: Streamlines, and Cider Press Review. She was a finalist for the 2022 Maine Writers & Publisher’s Alliance Maine Chapbook Series. She is the editor of the collection From Root to Seed: Black, Brown, and Indigenous Poets Write the Northeast.

Ken Craft ‘s poems have appeared in The Writer's Almanac, Spillway, Pirene's Fountain, Pedestal Magazine, and numerous other journals and e-zines. He is the author of three poetry collections, most recently Reincarnation & Other Stimulants (Kelsay Books, 2021).

Judy Kaber is the author of three chapbooks, most recently “A Pandemic Alphabet.” Her poems have appeared in journals such as The Worcester Review, Hunger Mountain, Poet Lore, and Spillway, as well as many other places. Recently, her poem, “Sword Swallowing Lessons,” was featured on “The Slowdown” and was read by Major Jackson. Judy won the 2023 Maine Poetry Contest. She is a past poet laureate of Belfast, Maine (2021-2023).

Jefferson Navicky is the author of four books, most recently the novel-in-prose-poems, Head of Island Beautification for the Rural Outlands (2023), as well as Antique Densities: Modern Parables & Other Experiments in Short Prose (2021), which won the 2022 Maine Literary Book Award for Poetry. He is the archivist for the Maine Women Writers Collection.

Betsy Sholl’s tenth collection of poetry is As If a Song Could Save You (University of Wisconsin Press in fall of 2022). Her ninth collection of poetry is House of Sparrows: New and Selected Poems (University of Wisconsin, 2019), winner of the Four Lakes Prize. Other awards include a Maine Book Award for Poetry, The Felix Pollak Prize, the AWP Prize for Poetry. She teaches in the MFA in Writing Program of Vermont College of Fine Arts and served as Poet Laureate of Maine from 2006 to 2011. She was awarded the 2020 Distinguished Achievement Award from Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance.

David Stankiewicz is the author of two poetry collections: My First Beatrice (Moon Pie Press, 2013) and Night Garden (Deerbrook Editions, 2024). A graduate of the University of Southern Maine Stonecoast MFA program, David is a professor of English at Southern Maine Community College. He lives in Cape Elizabeth with his family.

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