2026 Maine Lit Fest

October 1-9, 2026

The Maine Lit Fest is a week-long, statewide celebration of books and stories produced by Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance in collaboration with a team of community partners and volunteers.

This year’s theme is “Responding to the Moment.”

Goals of the 2026 Maine Lit Fest:

1.     To connect Maine readers and writers with authors that offer vital insights into our times,

2.     To spark new understandings of the stories and experiences of Maine’s communities through multi-cultural events and conversations, and

3.     To collaborate with community partners to invite and welcome new audiences to Maine literary events.

Ways to Get Involved:

If you are interested in volunteering to support the Maine Lit Fest, please fill out this FORM, and we will be in touch. Volunteers help with a range of tasks including hanging Maine Lit Fest posters in libraries, helping transport authors, and/or taking tickets and selling merch at events.

Every Maine Lit Fest year, MWPA selects and pays up to 5 Lit Fest Fellows to play a key role in Lit Fest planning, outreach, and production. Lit Fest Fellows are emerging writers who are active leaders within their communities. Fellows work with us to design and carry out specific Lit Fest activities and projects.

Past Fellows have planned and hosted in-person and online Maine Lit Fest events, conducted Maine Lit Fest social media campaigns, coordinated readings, and served as featured authors and/or facilitators on Maine Lit Fest panels.

Lit Fest Fellow applications are open from December 31, 2025 to January 31, 2026. To learn more about the program and/or apply, go HERE.

This year, we’re inviting Maine writers and readers (living outside of Portland) to dream up, pitch, and carry out 2026 Lit Fest events. We’re looking for literary events & activities that (1) embrace the spirit of community and highlight a range of writers and/or writing, (2) arrive as fully-formed ideas that you and/or a group of people are energized to carry out, and (3) occur in locations beyond Portland. [We’d love to offer events in as many towns and cities as possible, to reflect the abundance of reading and writing communities that we see happening all year long.]

We’re not interested in individual book launches, author promotional events, or ideas that still require substantial fleshing out.

Send us your proposals from December 31, 2025 to February 15, 2026.  We’ll select two ideas to support and help you carry out. Open Call Event Fellows will receive stipends of $500 and a small project budget (between $750 and $1,500) to produce their events and pay authors. Read a sample proposal HERE.

To learn more about the program and/or to apply, go HERE. 

We offer SPONSORSHIP PACKAGES for Maine businesses of all sizes. To learn more about 2026 Maine Lit Fest sponsorship opportunities or other sponsorship options please contact MWPA Associate Director Taryn Bowe, at taryn@mainewriters.org.

If none of these packages are right, please be in touch to discuss other options.

Are you part of an organization that would like to bring a Lit Fest Event to your space and/or partner around the Maine Lit Fest in another way? We’d love to hear from you. Please fill out this FORM, and we’ll be in touch.

Featured Maine Lit Fest authors are selected based on several criteria, including artistic and literary excellence, ability to engage diverse audiences, and ability to offer strong perspectives on literature and global issues.

If you are interested in serving as a featured author/illustrator at the Maine Lit Fest, please fill out this FORM and we’ll be back in touch if we can offer you a spot.