Please join MWPA and Longfellow Books for a special event with Rosa Lane, who will be reading from her 4th poetry collection, Called Back, a sequence of poems written in theatrical monologue in queer conversation with Emily Dickinson. Called Back, a title representing the last two words Dickinson wrote, may be considered a "docudrama" of sorts in poetic form and is based on most recent research by scholars bringing the LGBTQ significance of Dickinson to light. Lane's intensive 5-year odyssey with Dickinson extended through the pandemic.

Called Back (Tupelo Press, 2024) is praised by poet Adrian Blevins as a "radical homage [to Dickinson]...that gives back the 'Feral / utterances' Lane suggests her circumstances and time in history forbade her."

For more info and/or to purchase Called Back at Longfellow, click HERE.

Rosa Lane, poet and architect, was raised in coastal Maine as the daughter of a lobsterman. She is the author of four poetry collections including Called Back (Tupelo Press, 2024), Chouteau's Chalk (U. of Georgia Press, 2019, winner of the Georgia Poetry Prize); Tiller North (Sixteen Rivers Press, 2016, winner of the 2017 National Indie Excellence Book Award); and Roots and Reckonings, a chapbook, (published by Granite Press East with a grant from Maine Arts Commission). Lane's most recent work was named Best of Poetry for the 2024 Geminga Prize, winner of the 2023 Morton Marcus Memorial Poetry Prize, and selected finalist for the 2023 Gregory O'Donoghue International Poetry Prize (Cork, Ireland) among other awards. Her work has appeared in the Asheville Poetry Review, Five Points, Nimrod, Massachusetts Review, Ploughshares, RHINO, Third Coast, and elsewhere. She lives in South Portland with her wife. Website: www.rosalane.com

Free event no RSVP.

Betsy Sholl’s tenth collection of poetry was As If a Song Could Save You (University of Wisconsin Press in fall of 2022). Her ninth collection of poetry was 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, an NEA Fellowship. 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, and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Southern Maine in 2022. 

Please join us for the hybrid edition of MWPA’s beloved GATHER event series! On Wednesday, March 19, 2025 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 illness 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
Host: Kim Wright (wrightk@sad1.org)
Location: Governor's Restaurant & Bakery (350 Main St, Presque Isle)

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

BELFAST
Hosts: Beckie Weinheimer, Rob Bywater (beckieweinheimer@gmail.com, robbywater@fastmail.us )
Location: anodyne book shop (175 W Main St, Searsport)

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

BRUNSWICK AREA
Hosts: Alix Morris, Peter Owen ( alix.morris@gmail.com, peterowen326@gmail.com)
Location: Sea Dog Brewing (1 Bowdoin Mill Island, Topsham)

DAMARISCOTTA
Host: Andrea Vassallo (andrea.granted@gmail.com)

Location: Damariscotta River Grill (155 Main St, Damariscotta)

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

SOUTH PORTLAND
Host: Jeanne Julian (jmcjulian@yahoo.com)
Location: Bridgeway Restaurant (71 Ocean St., South Portland)

WATERVILLE
Host: Holly Zadra (hollyzadra@gmail.com)
Location: The Lounge of Front & Main (9 Main St, Waterville)

One way of resisting the cruelty and chaos of the current moment is to gather, process what’s happening, and identify actions we can take to protect the people and values integral to our communities.

Please join MWPA, SPACE, partners, and friends for an evening of expression, reflection, and activism, featuring short readings by writers and community leaders and information from local organizations on what you can do right now.

Featured readers:

Samaa Abdurraqib, Dania Bowie, Brandon Ying Kit Boey, Michael Colbert, Chelsea Conaboy, Samara Cole Doyon, Nick Fuller Googins, Jessi Holleran, Rylan Hynes, Abdi Nor Iftin, Reza Jalali, Jennifer Lunden, Hannah Matthews, Signature Mimi, Coco McCracken, Molly Curren Rowles, Sampson Spadafore, & Phuc Tran.

Information tables:

• ACLU of Maine

• Brazen Bandits

• EqualityMaine

• MaineTransNet

• SAFE Maine

$5 general admission/Limited free community ticket

Doors open at 6:30 PM/Readings begin at 7:00 PM.

Drinks, snacks, and community. Tears and laughter welcome!

Please join us for the hybrid edition of MWPA’s beloved GATHER event series! On Wednesday, January 15, 2025 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 & Jeri Theriault
RSVP HERE

In-Person Events:

AROOSTOOK
Host: Kim Wright (bkwrights75@gmail.com)
Location: Governor's Restaurant & Bakery (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 & Sarah Pebworth (mmepply@yahoo.com, sapebworth@gmail.com)
Location: Marlintini's Grill (83 Mines Rd, Blue Hill)

BRUNSWICK AREA
Hosts: Molly McGrath, Alix Morris, Peter Owen (molly@pinkeraserpress.com , alix.morris@gmail.com, peterowen326@gmail.com)
Location: Sea Dog Brewing (1 Bowdoin Mill Island, Topsham)

DAMARISCOTTA
Host: Andrea Vassallo (andrea.granted@gmail.com)

Location: Damariscotta River Grill (155 Main St, Damariscotta)

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

WATERVILLE
Host: Holly Zadra (hollyzadra@gmail.com)
Location: The Lounge of Front & Main (9 Main St, Waterville)