2008 Festival

2006 Festival

Camden Opera House
Camden, Maine
November 2, 3 and 4, 2007

Noted Authors Enrich and Enliven Festival Program

Committee of Advisors

  • Charlotte Albright
  • Bland Banwell
  • Victoria Bonebakker
  • Joseph Conforti
  • Nancy Harmon Jenkins
  • Tess Gerritsen
  • Cally Gurley
  • Wesley McNair
  • Jane Phillips
  • Richard Russo
  • Betsy Sholl

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The Maine Literary Festival is a scholarship project of the Midcoast Branch of the American Association of University Women. All proceeds from the Festival are used for the Midcoast AAUW's scholarship program for young women and girls who might otherwise not be able to attend college.

"Mayhem, Money and Mirth"

In 2007 our authors looked at the human condition through the lenses of mayhem, money and mirth. Whether pound-wise or penny-foolish, cultures clash and families feud, surviving only by recognizing, with a good laugh, that life is a comedy.
Also in 2007 the Maine Literary Festival expanded its highly acclaimed weekend festival to include a writers' workshop for both published and aspiring writers. (Read more...)

 

 

Governor Proclaims Maine Literary Weekend
click on image to enlarge


Tess Gerritsen

Tess Gerritsen is an international bestselling thriller author who took an unusual route to her writing career. A graduate of Stanford University, Tess went to medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, and was awarded her MD in 1979. After completing her internal medicine residency, she worked as a physician in Honolulu, Hawaii. While on maternity leave, she began to write fiction, and in 1987 her first novel, Call After Midnight, a romantic thriller, was published. Eight romantic thrillers followed, as well as the TV move "Adrift," starring Kate Jackson. In 1996, her first medical thriller, Harvest, was released in hardcover and marked her debut on the New York Times bestseller list. Since then, Tess's thriller novels have hit bestseller lists around the world. Her titles include Life Support, Bloodstream, Gravity, The Surgeon, The Apprentice, The Sinner, Body Double, Vanish (an Edgar Award Nominee), The Mephisto Club and The Bone Garden. Critics praise her novels as "Pulse-Pounding Fun" (Philadelphia Inquirer), "Scary And Brilliant" ( Toronto Globe And Mail), "Like Michael Crichton In Medical Mode" ( London Guardian), and "Polished, Riveting Prose" ( Chicago Tribune). Now retired from medicine, Tess writes full time. She lives in Maine. 


Festival Program

Mayhem, Money & Mirth
At the Camden Opera House unless otherwise indicated.

Friday, November 2: Festival Keynote and Kickoff

6 to 6:45PM - Registration
7PM - Introductory Remarks
7:15PM - Martha White - Introducing Geoffrey Wolff
7:30PM - Geoffrey Wolff: The E.B. and Katharine White Memorial Lecture
    •   Mirth at the Mill: Party immediately following at historic Knox Mill Grille

Saturday, November 3: A Day and Evening of Fact, Fiction & Fun

7:30 to 8:30AM - Continental Breakfast/Registration
8:30AM - Welcome and Introductions
8:40AM - Matthew Pearl: Mayhem, Money & Mirth: A Theme and a Concept
9:30AM - The Early American Experience
    •  Peter Silver: The Social Complexity and Tangled History of Colonial Relations
    •  Mary Malloy: Sailors, Whalers and Notorious Captains
    •  James Laxer: The Acadian Experience in Search of a Homeland
    •  Questions & Answers
11:15AM to 12:55PM - Signings/Lunch on Own
1PM - Scott Donaldson: Recovering Robinson, a Great American Poet
1:30PM - Adventures in Literary Biography: Scott Donaldson (moderator),
    Charles Calhoun and Brenda Wineapple
3 to 3:45PM - Break and Signings
3:45PM - Contemporary Fiction: New Voices: Charlotte Albright (moderator),
    Geoffrey Wolff, Dorie McCullough Lawson, Owen King, Christina Baker Kline
5:15PM - Signings/Dinner on Own

7 to 9PM - The Opening Sentence
Several of our authors respond to the challenge to expand upon the following sentence within the limit of 100 words -
"In the midst of chaos, she took the wallet and disappeared into the laughing crowd." (Mayhem, Money & Mirth)
    •  Seasonal Desserts, Coffee, Mulled Cider at Élan Gallery

Sunday, November 4: A Morning of Mystery & Mischief

7:45 to 8:45AM - Continental Breakfast/Registration/Book Signings
8:55AM - Welcome and Introductions
9AM - Gary Goshgarian: History of Mystery: From Poe to Parker
     and In Between
9:40AM - Jonathan Aldrich: Dinner Was Served
10:05AM - Tess Gerritsen: Digging into Medical History &
     Weaving Research into the Novel
10:45AM - Did the Butler Do It? with Tess Gerritsen (moderator),
     Kate Flora, Gary Goshgarian, Joe Hill, Sarah Langan, Matthew Pearl
12:15PM - Wrap-up and 2008 Maine Literary Festival Highlights
12:15 to 1:15PM - Book Signings

©2007 Maine Author Series & Literary Festival PO Box 886 Camden, Maine 04843 207.837.2827 info@MaineLiteraryFestival.com

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