Maine Launches Its First Literary Festival Pulitzer Prize Author Richard Russo Keynotes

On November 3, 4th, and 5th, the inaugural Maine Authors Series & Literary Festival opens in Camden. The first event of its kind in Maine, the Festival is titled Celebrating the Spirit of Place: The Maine Literary Tradition.

Camden, ME (PRWEB) October 5, 2006 -- On November 3, 4th, and 5th, the inaugural Maine Authors Series & Literary Festival opens in Camden. The first event of its kind in Maine, the Festival is titled Celebrating the Spirit of Place: The Maine Literary Tradition.

Rich in literary traditions, Maine is home to many acclaimed, award-winning writers and the setting for numerous memorable stories. The Festival brings together more than 20 authors, poets and speakers who live in and/or write about Maine for a lively weekend exploring ideas, creation, and imagination with participants who have a passion for reading and for Maine.

The event begins on Friday November 3rd at 7pm with Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Emmy-nominated screenwriter of Empire Falls, delivering the inaugural E.B. and Katharine White Memorial lecture followed by a Gala Reception.

The festivities continue on Saturday and Sunday as celebrated authors provide a rich mix of presentations, readings, and panel discussions in the areas of poetry, biography, fiction, and books-to-film. Activities over the three-day weekend take place at the historic Camden Opera House with a Saturday evening event at The Center for Maine Contemporary Art.

The weekend was designed to be flexible, allowing people to attend the entire weekend or individual days. Registration for the entire weekend is $65.00 for students with a valid student ID and $125.00 general admission. Additional pricing information is available at www.maineliteraryfestival.com. Tickets for the Festival may be purchased through the web site; by sending in a check to Maine Literary Festival, Box 886, Camden, ME 04843; or at any of the following venues - ABCD Books and Owl and Turtle, Camden; Reading Corner, Rockland; Left Bank Books, Searsport; Personal Books, Thomaston.

About the Maine Authors Series & Literary Festival

Richard Russo delivers the first E.B. and Katharine White Memorial Lecture. Genuinely and sharply funny, Russo is a natural to keynote the inaugural Lecture. Like E.B., his prose is beautifully crafted and laced with humor. His Lecture, the Gravestone and the Commode, will focus on humor in writing and how writers discover their "artistic personality." The family of E.B and Katharine White consented to naming the Lecture for the Whites based upon the premise of scholarship and professionalism that form the core of the Festival's mission. Each year, the Lecturer will be an author of integrity and high caliber who has contributed to, and influenced, literature and has a passion for Maine and its literary traditions. Martha White, granddaughter of E.B. and Katharine White and a resident of Rockport, is a presenter at the Maine Literary Festival. She will read from the Letters of E.B. White, Revised and Updated, which will be released by Harper Collins in November. Ms White is the editor of the new release.

Information about the full roster of celebrated authors and highlights of the program can be found at the Maine Literary Festival website.

The Maine Literary Festival achieved an important place in Maine’s literary history recently when Governor John Baldacci signed a proclamation recognizing November 4 and 5th as Maine Literary Weekend.

About the Midcoast Branch of the American Association of University Women

The women who sat around a kitchen table in 1926 in Waldoboro, ME, to formulate a branch of the American Association of University Women in Midcoast Maine might only have dreamed that one day the branch would be the force behind this major new development in Maine. The Maine Authors Series & Literary Festival is a continuation and expansion of the successful and acclaimed 30-year Maine Authors Series, a scholarship project of the Midcoast Maine Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW). From Stephen King in 1976 to Tracy Kidder in 2005, over 253 authors gave generously of their time and delighted audiences, in many memorable cases, with the author’s first book. Over $100,000 in scholarships were awarded to women and girls in 3 counties in Maine as a result of the former Maine Authors Series.

In October of 2005, four members of the branch met to review results of the 2005 Series, discuss how to proceed for 2006, and appoint a new chair. Before the meeting was over, the concept of an expanded Series, indeed a full weekend Festival, was born. Within a few short months, another AAUW member joined the committee. The first annual Maine Authors Series & Literary Festival is the result of the vision and passion of these five women. All proceeds from the Festival fund the Midcoast AAUW’s scholarship program for young women and girls who might otherwise not be able to attend college.

Contact:

Susan LaPlante-Dube, Precision Marketing Group

508-482-9511

Maryanne Shanahan, Maine Literary Festival

207-837-2827

# # #