The Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance and Mechanics’ Hall in Portland are happy to announce that MWPA has moved its offices into the historic Mechanics’ Hall building at 519 Congress.

MWPA, a statewide literary organization that will celebrate its 50th Anniversary next summer, will bring many of its Portland-based workshops, conferences, and events into Mechanics’ Hall, which was built between 1857 and 1859. MWPA will continue to host events and programs around the state and support its more than 1,600 members in all sixteen Maine counties and beyond.

“We are excited to join the hive of arts and humanities activity that’s happening inside Mechanics’ Hall, not to mention being closer to all of the wonderful cultural programs and resources in and around Portland’s Arts District,” says Gibson Fay-LeBlanc, executive director of MWPA. “Mechanics’ Hall will become our landlord and remains one of our essential community partners.”

“This is an example of deep and positive arts community collaboration,” says Annie Leahy, executive director of Mechanics’ Hall. “We have hosted many literary events over the last few years, some of which we collaborated with MWPA on, and having them here will bring more of Maine’s reading and writing communities into the building for workshops and conferences and to spend time in our library.”

MWPA partners with other organizations around Maine like the Portland Museum of Art, Colby College, SPACE Gallery, the Maine Humanities Council, the Maine State Library, public libraries around the state, and others, as well as local independent bookstores like Back Cove Books, The Briar Patch, DDG Booksellers, Longfellow Books, and PRINT: A Bookstore and will continue with those partnerships.

MWPA and Mechanics’ Hall remain distinct organizations with separate missions, boards, and bylaws, but both support emerging and excellent literary work while also building community around books. Both MWPA and Mechanics’ Hall are membership organizations and will offer a joint membership that allows MWPA members to work in the Mechanic’s Hall Library and Mechanics’ Hall members to take advantage of MWPA workshops, scholarships and fellowships, and other opportunities.

MWPA’s offices have been located at USM’s Glickman Library since 2005. “We are tremendously grateful to USM for providing us with office and program space for almost 20 years,” says Fay-LeBlanc. “We particularly want to thank David Nutty, Director Emeritus of Libraries & Learning at USM, and Zach Newell, Dean of Libraries & Learning at USM, for all of their support over the years. And we look forward to continuing to partner with the university’s Stonecoast MFA Program, libraries, and other departments and initiatives.”

Our new address is 519 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101, and our new phone is 207-200-7180.

We've Moved!