The Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance is now distributing Ex Libris Maine, an e-newsletter that exclusively profiles recently released books by MWPA members, twice per month. The newsletter is sent to a large group of recipients, including our entire MWPA membership and numerous literary organizations, bookstores, libraries, and Maine media contacts.

Inclusion in Ex Libris Maine is free for individual MWPA members to feature their own books. Publisher members may submit any and all books they publish.

PEASE NOTE: Ex Libris Maine is a members-only benefit and exclusively features books published within the current month or the two previous months. For example, the April, 2023 editions can feature titles published in April as well as March and February of 2023. In order to maintain Ex Libris Maine as a resource for newly released titles, we are not able to include books older than this window of time. Ex Libris Maine is published on the second Monday and last Monday of each month; submissions for each month must be received by 5:00 PM on the Thursday prior to the last Monday of the month to qualify for inclusion in a given month’s late edition.

MWPA reserves the right to make editorial changes to Ex Libris submissions to clarify content and ensure all profiles follow a similar format. In rare instances, if a submitted title does not align with MWPA's mission to support all Maine writers and foster an inclusive, representative literary community (You can read more about this purpose here), MWPA may decide not to feature a member's submitted book in a forthcoming Ex Libris.

If you have any questions, please contact Samara Doyon at exlibris@mainewriters.org.

Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance is turning 50 this June. As part of our year-long celebration, we want to invite newer writers to join Maine’s writing community and connect them with writers who are already a part of it. 

This summer, we will team up with a crew of volunteers made up of past Maine Literary Award winners and MWPA staff, board members, instructors, and friends to offer newer, developing writers FREE one-time letters of personalized feedback in response to a piece of written work.

This program is for any developing Maine writer, including but not limited to current MWPA members. Applicants will be selected and matched based on statements of need and commitment. Need can be financial, educational, or other. Applicant preferences for readers will also be taken into consideration. Readers will review packets of poetry, as well as children’s book pages and packets of fiction, genre fiction, drama, nonfiction, and memoir.

This one-time exchange will take place this July and August. 

Writers volunteering to read and respond to work include:

Anica Morse Rissi, Charlotte Agell, Chris Holm, Coco McCracken, Emerson Whitney, George Jreije, Gibson Fay-LeBlanc, Greg Brown, Jane Brox, Jaed Coffin, Jefferson Navicky, Jen Dupree, Jennifer Jacobson, Jenny O’Connell, Jeri Theriault, Maya Williams, Mira Ptacin, Myron Hardy, Nathan Conroy, Rosa Lane, Ryan Bani Tahmaseb, Samaa Abdurraqib, Samara Cole Doyon, Shannon Bowring, and Taryn Bowe.

Please email MWPA’s Associate Director Taryn Bowe (taryn@mainewriters.org) with questions about participating and/or applying.

Please fill out the application, include a statement of intent/need, and attach a work sample.

QUESTIONS?
Contact MWPA at programs@mainewriters.org or 207-228-8264.

Please fill out the application, include a statement of intent of up to 300 words, and attach a work sample. The deadline to submit is August 19, 2025 at 11:59 PM.
 

QUESTIONS?
Contact MWPA Director of Education & Operations Nathan Conroy at programs@mainewriters.org or 207-200-7180.

Poems from Here, a weekly poetry program on Maine Public Radio with help from the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance, continues for another year!  This program was first created in 2017 by former Maine State Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum and ran through 2021. The 2022 reboot brought five new hosts, Maine State Poet Laureate Julia Bouwsma and fellow poets Samaa Abdurraqib, Gibson Fay-LeBlanc, Mihku Paul, and Arisa White. 

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
   + Poems from Here is open to all poets who live in Maine or who have spent significant time in Maine. If you have had a poem featured in the last two years, please refrain from submitting.
   + Please submit 3-5 poems as a single word or PDF document. Poems can be previously published as long as the appropriate permissions/credit information is included. Poems can be submitted simultaneously as long as we are notified through Submittable if a poem is no longer available for consideration.
   + Submissions will only be accepted online via Submittable between May 22 and June 31.
   + Please Note: We will send a response either way, but please expect the response time to be long. We expect to receive several hundred poems and can only choose 52 for a year and have 5 different poets choosing work. Please also do not pay much attention to the "status" listed in Submittable. Because of how we process and read these submissions, that status is not always accurate nor does it reflect if a submission has been read or is in the process of being read.