PORTLAND – Readers and writers came together Saturday to celebrate what they have in common — books.
The Maine Festival of the Book, which kicked off Friday night and continues through today, drew an estimated crowd of 3,000 for presentations by more than 75 authors, artists and performers.
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“It’s the best turnout we’ve seen,” said Sarah Cecil, executive director of Maine Reads, the organization hosting the event.
Maine Reads launched the festival five years ago with the support of former Maine first lady Karen Baldacci. The festival is just one event that supports the nonprofit organization’s mission to promote literacy in the state.
The event features Maine authors, although many also come from out of state. The organization strives for a mix of free offerings that engage people of all ages, Cecil said.
“I want it to be fun and inspiring for everybody and build a sense of community” she said.
As a crowd of more than 200 settled in Hannaford Hall at the Abromson Center on the University of Southern Maine’s Portland campus for a reading and discussion with authors Paul Harding and Sarah Braunstein, it became obvious that is exactly what people wanted.
Everyone listened quietly, bursting into laughter at times, as Iowa Writers’ Workshop classmates Harding and Braunstein discussed the publication of their first novels.
Braunstein read from “The Sweet Relief of Missing Children,” the novel that earned her the title of one of “5 under 35” writers by the National Book Foundation, while Harding read from his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “Tinkers.” Afterward, the two discussed the process of writing and the painstaking efforts of finishing and publishing a book.
Having received rejection letters from three dozen publishers, Harding said, ” ‘Tinkers’ was in a desk drawer for three years.”
He said writing a book is “an act of faith.”
When one writer in the audience asked what to do now that she has written, but not yet published, her first book, they both responded, “just keep writing.”
Tina Harnden of Cape Elizabeth described their presentation as “wonderful and fascinating.”
Prentiss Weiss of Brunswick came to the festival for her first time to see the presentation “At Home in My 365-Day Garden.” While that presentation was canceled, she sat in on Harding and Braunstein’s discussion, as well as a later session with science writer Hannah Holmes and author Shonna Milliken Humphrey.
“We’re readers and appreciators,” of books, she said. “It’s nice to hear about it from the source.”
With her was Ellen Froncek of Portland, who is writing the stories of her family as a keepsake for her son.
“Writers are a very interesting lot. Hearing writers read from their work is so exciting and alive,” she said.
Staff Writer Emma Bouthillette can be contacted at 791-6325 or at:
ebouthillette@pressherald.com
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