2019 Word. Festival: October 24-27
Readings/Talks * Workshops * Poetry Crawl * Youth Events* Debut Performance
Pre-register for workshops now!
Songcrafting with Noel Paul Stookey & George Emlen
POETRY MASTER CLASS: Diving Deeper into Show Don’t Tell with Richard Blanco
Memoir-Writing with Katherine Koch
Getting Unstuck with Cynthia Thayer
Fanfiction with Elizabeth Minkel
Festival Highlights:
Thursday, October 24
Word. Art. Opening night exhibit of work by Blue Hill Peninsula artists
celebrating the intersection of the visual arts and the written word
4 pm - 6 pm, Cynthia Winings Gallery
Friday, October 25
Benefit reception at the Blue Hill Inn, 5-6:30 pm, tickets
Dave Cullen, author of Columbine and Parkland, in conversation with Brook Ewing Minner
7 pm, Emlen Hall
Saturday, October 26
How to Raise a Reader: Maria Russo, children’s book editor of the New York Times Book Review,
in conversation with librarian Pat Horton
10 am - 11 am, Blue Hill Public Library
Panel: Ethics and Memoir, with members of the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance
1 pm, Blue Hill Public Library
Poetry Crawl: Area poets read their work at locations along Main Street
1 pm - 5:45 pm
Novelists Joe Hill and Elizabeth Hand in conversation with Laura Miller
7:30 pm, Congregational Church
Sunday, October 27
Emily Nussbaum, television critic for the New Yorker, in conversation with Samantha Haskell
1 pm, Blue Hill Public Library
Debut performance of an original work by poet Richard Blanco and composer Paul Sullivan
4 pm, Emlen Hall
Free Workshops for Children and Adults:
Mia Bogyo (bookmaking, all ages), Charlotte Agell (Catch an Idea, ages 5-9), Ellen Booraem (Lightning Round for Writers Young and Old, ages 10-adult).
All venues in Blue Hill, Maine
Media sponsor: Community radio WERU (89.9FM). Thank you, WERU!
Welcome!
Every October, Word brings together readers, writers, and tellers of tales to celebrate the written and spoken word—fiction and non-fiction, children’s literature, poetry, drama, nonfiction, storytelling and more. The festival takes place in Blue Hill, Maine where a literary tradition of great thinkers and artists extends over two hundred years and includes Jonathan Fisher, Mary Ellen Chase, and E.B. White to name a few. Many writers continue to call the Blue Hill peninsula home as does a large community of passionate readers. To celebrate this rich heritage, Word presents three days of author readings, a poetry crawl, writing workshops, panel discussions, school events, and spoken word performances to sold out crowds. Come join us and spread the Word!
Word 2019 is funded by the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation and the Maine Arts Commission, an independent state agency supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as other generous donors. Partners include WERU-FM, the Blue Hill Public Library, and Blue Hill Books.
Word 2018 was funded in part by a grant from the Maine Arts Commission, an independent state agency supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Word 2017 was funded in part by a grant from the Hancock County Fund of the Maine Community Foundation.