Morgan Talty’s novel “Fire Exit,” and Bess Welden’s play “Madeleines” were among the winners of the 2025 Maine Literary Awards. This is the second year that Talty has won the Maine book award for fiction.
The winners were announced last Thursday at the Next Generation Theatre in Brewer. Nominations were open to all Maine residents, including seasonal residents and those with long-standing connections to the state. Entries included 145 books and more than 170 manuscripts. A panel of writers, librarians, editors, teachers and literary professionals served as anonymous jurors. Visit mainewriters.org to learn more about the awards.
At the ceremony, Talty introduced writer and activist Donna Loring, who received an award for distinguished achievement in Maine literary arts and advocacy for the Wabanaki peoples.
“(Loring) has been a really important advocate for Wabanaki peoples and writers from the Wabanaki nations,” said Gibson Fay-LeBlanc, executive director of the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance. “It was very meaningful to recognize someone who has done so many kinds of wonderful work.”
Here were the winners in each category:
Book Award for Crime Fiction
Maureen Milliken, “Dying for News”
Book Award for Fiction
Morgan Talty, “Fire Exit”
Book Award for Nonfiction
Margot Anne Kelley, “A Gardener at the End of the World”
Book Award for Memoir
Penny Guisinger, “Shift: A Memoir of Identity and Other Illusions”
Book Award for Poetry
Rosa Lane, “Called Back”
Book Award for Young People’s Literature
Gail Donovan, “Sparrow Spreads Her Wings”
Book Award for Children’s
Elisa Boxer and Marieke Nelissen, “The Different Tree”
Book Award for Speculative Fiction
Charlene Vanderslice, “The Mermaid Stone”
Book Award for Excellence in Publishing
Ayokunle Falomo, “Autobiomythography of”
Book Award for Anthology
Kara Douglas and Erin O’Mara (editors), “Alive to This: Essays on Living Fully by 20 Maine Writers”
John N. Cole Award for Maine Nonfiction
Penny Guisinger, “Shift: A Memoir of Identity and Other Illusions” (co-winner)
Margot Anne Kelley, “A Gardener at the End of the World” (co-winner)
Kara Douglas and Erin O’Mara (editors), “Alive to This: Essays on Living Fully by 20 Maine Writers” (co-winner)
Drama Award
Bess Welden, “Madeleines”
Short Works Competition in Fiction
Will Willoughby, “Downstream Benefits”
Short Works Competition in Nonfiction
Penny Guisinger, “Raptor”
Short Works Competition in Poetry
Jude Marx, “i dream my gender a thousand shades of green and Other Poems”
Youth Competition in Fiction
Sylvia Guarna, “Catch and Release”
Youth Competition in Nonfiction
Molly Trainor, “Survival of the Flawed”
Youth Competition in Poetry
Ruby Van Dyk, “Three Poems”
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