Maine’s Authors & Literary Scene

In a state known for originality and inspiration, it’s no surprise that writers have long been moved to create notable works Maine. Some writers were born and raised in Maine such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Stephen King. Others found inspiration for their greatest works while visiting or living here, including Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry David Thoreau. Whatever style of writing you enjoy, there’s inspiration waiting for you in Maine where you can tour famous author sites and relax with a great book whenever the spirit moves you.

Notable Authors

Harriet Beecher Stowe lived for two years in Brunswick in the home where she wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Visitors can enjoy a guided walking tour of the home and places in Brunswick that inspired Stowe as she worked on her book. For a deeper foray into literary history, you can retrace the epic trip that inspired Thoreau’s The Maine Woods on the Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail in northern Maine. An overnight Thoreau experience is offered with the New England Outdoor Center.

A fictionalized Tenant’s Harbor is the setting for Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett. You can find out more about Jewett by visiting her home in South Berwick.

Another famous nature writer, Rachel Carson, author of the groundbreaking Silent Spring, researched her 1955 book, Edge of the Sea, in Edgecomb. Explore the environment that inspired her at the Nature Conservancy’s Rachel Carson Salt Pond Preserve in Bristol, and the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge in Wells.

Maine’s most famous modern author is Stephen King, whose mind-bogglingly prolific works are often based in fictional Maine towns. You can visit his former hometown of Bangor (known as Derry in his stories) and enjoy a delightful and captivating tour of 30 sites found in his books.

Colin Woodard, journalist and author, is celebrated for his historical works, including The Lobster Coast, a cultural and environmental history of coastal Maine. Paul Doiron of Camden is the author of award-winning crime novels featuring a Maine game warden as a sleuth in his natural habitat. Also inspired by her surroundings in Camden is Tess Gerritsen, bestselling author of romantic and medical thrillers.

Portland’s Elizabeth Strout is author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Olive Kitteridge, and other bestsellers.

No author better captures life in central Maine than Richard Russo. You can spend a day or two in Waterville and Skowhegan, the towns that inspired Russo’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Empire Falls. In Portland, Russo’s daughter, Emily, is co-owner and operator of Print: A Bookstore, where we’re pretty sure all of her dad’s books are in stock.

Maine native and Penobscot Nation citizen, Morgan Talty is a professor at the University of Maine, Orono, and author of Night of the Living Rez, an award-winning collection of short stories set in a Native community in Maine.

The 2024 recipient of the Sara Josepha Hale award for excellence in New England literary arts, Maine native and Portland resident Monica Wood is author of How to Read a Book, The One-in-a-Million Boy, and We Were the Kennedys.

Susan Conley is the award-winning author of five critically acclaimed books, including her best-selling novel Landslide. She is also co-founder of the Telling Room, a creative writing lab for kids in Portland.

Maine’s Children’s Authors

Some of America’s favorite authors and illustrators have captured Maine in picture books, like Make Way for Ducklings author, Robert McCloskey and his iconic ode to the MidCoast with One Morning in Maine and Blueberries for Sal. McCloskey spent summers on an island in Penobscot Bay.

Beloved Maine author E.B. White penned favorite youth classics including Stuart Little, Charlotte’s Web and The Trumpet of the Swan, and lived in North Brooklin on a farm that comes to life on the pages of his books. He’s also the source of one of Maine’s most quotable quotes: “I would really rather feel bad in Maine than feel good anywhere else.”

Many people come to Maine to see the lupines blooming in fields, on mountain sides and even along the highway because of author and illustrator Barbara Cooney’s Caldecott award-winning classic, Miss Rumphius. Cooney lived in the MidCoast town of Damariscotta and captures the magic of the region perfectly. Some of her artwork is now on display at Bowdoin College Museum of Art.

Dahlov Ipcar spent most of her life on a farm in Georgetown and in 1945 she illustrated The Little Fisherman, her first children’s book, for author Margaret Wise Brown who had a summer cottage on Vinalhaven Island. Ipcar went on to write and illustrate 30 children’s books of her own.

Based in Camden, Chris Van Dusen is a popular illustrator and author of many popular children’s books including The Circus Ship. He illustrates Kate DiCamillo’s Mercy Watson series as well.

Maine’s Famous Poets

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, author of beloved poems such as Evangeline and The Song of Hiawatha, grew up in Portland where you can visit his childhood home, the Wadsworth-Longfellow House. Operated by the Maine Historical Society, visitors can enjoy guided and self-guided tours.

If you were touched by Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poem, Renascence, you can reach out and touch Camden’s Mt. Battie, via car or hiking shoes, to take in the views that inspired the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet. You can also visit Whitehall Inn in Camden for a moving tribute to her. The Edna St. Vincent Millay House in Rockland is being restored, so check out their website for local events.

Bethel is home to poet and memoirist, Richard Blanco, who will forever be remembered for his poetry at Barack Obama’s inauguration, the fifth presidential inaugural poet in U.S. history.

Maine’s current Poet Laureate is Julia Bouwsma who is the author of three poetry collections: Death Fluorescence, Midden, and Work by Bloodlight. She is also director at Webster Library in Kingfield. Julia’s predecessor was Stuart Kestenbaum, author of six collections of poems including Pilgrimage, House of Thanksgiving, and Prayers and Run-on Sentences.

Related Literary Events and Places

The Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance offers a listing of events related to Maine authors throughout the year including the Maine Lit Fest, which includes a week of 20+ readings, conversations, and happenings.

Word: The Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival is held each October to celebrate the rich literary culture of the Blue Hill Peninsula.

The Maine Book Fest in Waterville has author signings, bookmaking, vendor sales, and local food options the whole weekend.

One of the best places to connect with Maine authors is at Maine’s independent bookstores throughout the state. Also, many of Maine’s libraries offer services to visitors, and what better place to connect to Maine’s literary scene than at a library.