UNIVERSE, VAST UNIVERSE Book Launch and Party
Nov
17
7:00 PM19:00
Readings & Talks

UNIVERSE, VAST UNIVERSE Book Launch and Party

Please join Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance, SPACE, and friends as we celebrate the launch of Universe, Vast Universe: An Anthology of Immigrant Voices in Maine edited by Nicole Pomeroy. The night will feature readings, food, community, and copies of the anthology for sale.

Readings by:

Kendric Chua, Aiden Dumitru, Kerem Durdag, Leela Marie Hidier, Tanuja Desai Hidier, Annaliese Jakimides, Shir Kehila, Gianna Milstein-Jones, Leila Nadir, Ning Sullivan, Jenna Dela Cruz Vendil, & Omar Yusuf.

General admission tickets are $5.

Limited free tickets available.

Early praise for the anthology:

"This is an arrestingly powerful anthology that reminds us that the best antidote to authoritarianism is complexity. These essays, poems, stories achieve what all great literature does: it refuses to be put neatly in any single box."

-       Zahir Janmohamed, author of The Permitted Hours (forthcoming from Haymarket Books) 

“Polyphonic, multivocal, beautifully harmonious. This collection is full of overlapping echoes of stories and memories, dreams and promises. Universe, Vast Universe speaks so powerfully to these heartbreaking and soul crushing times we’re in.”

-       Samaa Abdurraqib, author of Towards a Retreat and Executive Director of the Maine Humanities Council.

“This book is the part of the iceberg the world never sees. We talk about immigration like it's the surface: the arrival, the achievement, the smile in the photo. But underneath is where the real story lives. The sacrifices nobody watched us make, the doubts we never said out loud, the hope we kept anyway. These pages hold that hidden depth. Written with an intergenerational lens, they're the stories we usually only tell around the dinner table, in our prayer houses, among the people who already know. Struggle and resilience. Longing and belonging. Faith that held when nothing else did. This is what it actually costs, and what it actually means, to build a life far from where you began. Welcome into our iceberg. This is the story behind the story.”

-       Pious Ali, Portland City Counselor and Community Leader

View Event →
Gather 71
Sep
16
6:00 PM18:00
Gather

Gather 71

Please join us for MWPA’s beloved GATHER event series! On Wednesday, September 16 at 6:00 PM, MWPA members & friends can attend an in-person Gather at one of many locations around the state. 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. For more information, contact Rachael at: rachael@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.

In-Person Events:

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

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

EASTPORT
Host: Valerie Lawson (valerie_lawson1@hotmail.com)
Location: Horn Run Brewing (75 Water Street, Eastport)

LEWISTON / AUBURN
Host: Darren Deth (darren.deth@vcfa.edu)
Location: 84 Court Pizza & Restaurant (84 Court Street, Auburn)

LUBEC
Hosts: Stephanie Gough & Penny Guisinger (stephgough@gmail.com, pennyleighg@gmail.com)
Location: Inn on the Wharf. (69 Johnson Street, Lubec)

MIDCOAST
Host: Chris Friden & Lee Reilly (chrisfriden@me.com, reillytide@yahoo.com)
Location: 40 Paper (40 Washington Street, Camden)

PORTLAND
Host: Katie Bonadies (katie@belleflowerbrewing.com)
Location: Belleflower Brewing (66 Cove Street, Portland)

SOUTH PORTLAND
Host: Dodie Hamblen (dodiehamblen@yahoo.com)
Location: The Send Brewing Company (15 Ocean Street, South Portland)

View Event →
Book Launch for THRESHOLD by Deborah Cummins
Aug
18
6:00 PM18:00
Readings & Talks

Book Launch for THRESHOLD by Deborah Cummins

Please join Mechanics’ Hall, MWPA, and PRINT: A Bookstore for a celebration of the launch of Threshold: A Memoir of Crossing Through the Terrain of Loss by poet and writer Deborah Cummins. After Cummins passed away suddenly in 2023, her family found a home for her manuscript with She Writes Press, and it was published earlier this year.

Award-winning poet Andrea Hollander calls the memoir “…unputdownable and unforgettable.” This intimate, poignant, and compelling memoir tells the story of a woman—a “reluctant examiner” of death—navigating grief while caring for her dying brother and aging parents, inviting the reader into a journey of hope, growth, and resilience.

The evening will be held in the historic library at Mechanics’ Hall and include readings from the book and conversations with writers and friends who knew Deborah well, including Chelsea Conaboy, Gibson Fay-LeBlanc and Sandell Morse. All are welcome to this free event, and there will be snacks and drinks. Please RSVP by clicking the orange button below.

PRINT: A Bookstore will be on hand to sell copies of Threshold.

RSVP

Deborah Cummins authored three poetry collections and a collection of linked essays, one of which was listed as Notable in Best American Essays 2013. She received her MFA in creative writing, and her work has appeared in eight anthologies and more than 60 journals, including Yale Review, Gettysburg Review, Orion, Fourth Genre, and New England Review.

From 2001 to 2005, she was the Board Chair of the Poetry Foundation in Chicago, and more recently, from 2016 to 2023, she served as Board President of the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. In 2014, Deborah and her husband, Bob, relocated from Chicago to Maine, dividing their time between Portland and Deer Isle. She passed away in 2023.

View Event →
Johanna Franzel presents WRITE YOURSELF HOME with Susan Conley
Aug
4
6:00 PM18:00
Readings & Talks

Johanna Franzel presents WRITE YOURSELF HOME with Susan Conley

Please join Johanna Franzel, MWPA, and PRINT: A Bookstore for a joyful celebration of the launch of Write Yourself Home at Broadturn Farm in Scarborough, Maine.

The evening will include a conversation with award-winning and bestselling author Susan Conley, as well as snacks, and fun surprises. For those who want to stay, a dance party will round out the night!

Write Yourself Home offers “A transformative guide and radical invitation to come home to your body—finding safety, joy, and connection, exactly as you are.” The book contains “gentle movement, breathing exercises, and writing practices for a fully embodied life—simple somatic resources for readers with complex bodies,” and is available for pre-order and will be available at the event as well.

Want to join? Please RSVP below.

RSVP
View Event →