Books In Boothbay Retires

Dear Authors & Booklovers,

With sadness we must announce that Books in Boothbay as we have known it will be retiring.

It has been a pleasure to have so many of you participate in over the years.

How inspiring to be surrounded by so much talent.

There have been some changes in circumstances beyond our control and we will no longer be able to hold this event.

Thank you to the attendees and authors, and sponsors Sherman's Books & Stationery, Mine Oyster ~ Raw Bar & Gathering Place, Boothbay Railway Village, and Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library.

We've had a good run! Keep reading, keep writing!

2022 Books in Boothbay Authors - AM & PM Schedule

Books in Boothbay 2022 is fast approaching!

9:00 AM - NOON & 1:00 - 4:00 PM
AT THE RAILWAY VILLAGE

**MORNING SESSION 9 A.M. – NOON**

Hilary Bartlett, Ellen Booream, David Brook, Sarah Carlson, Laurie Chandler, William Chanler, Katina Currin, Hillary Dow, Irene Drago, Gail Donnovan, Justine Dymond, Kate Flora, S.G. Grant, Kristy Lagaroos, Cynthia Langdon, Elizabeth Miller, Sandra Neily, Jim Nichols, Anne Britting Oleson, Maria Padian, Terri Blen Parker, Jule Selbo, David Sloan

**AFTERNOON SESSION 1 P.M. – 4 P.M.**

Charlotte Agell, William Anthony, Danielle Bannister, Cheryl Blaydon, Rae Chalmers, Matt Cost, Ed Crockett, Charlene D'Avanzo, Luca DiMatteo, Jennifer Dupree, Carol Ekster, Tory Gates, Vaughn Hardacker, Julie Lane, Lincoln County Historical Society, BJ Mangnani, S. Lee Manning, Len Mattano, Shawn McCarthy, Hunter Nichols, Lynne Schmidt, Robert Spencer, Kevin St. Jarre, Alexandra Thompson

 BOOKS IN BOOTHBAY 2022:

Saturday, July 9, 2022
9:00 am - Noon & 1:00 - 4:00 pm
at the Boothbay Railway Village

More details (and authors!) coming soon!

Many thanks to the 200+ book lovers and nearly 40 authors from across Maine that participated in Books in Boothbay this past Saturday! It was a successful community event, and we're already looking forward to 2022... So stay tuned!

Mary Lawrence is the author of five Bianca Goddard Mysteries set in the slums of Tudor London. Two of her novels--The Alchemist's Daughter and The Alchemist of Lost Souls were named by Suspense Magazine as best historical mysteries of 2015 and 2019 respectively. Her articles have appeared in several publications, including the national news blog The Daily Beast. She lives in Limington and also runs Rare Berry Farm with her husband. Come meet Mary and dozens of other authors at Books in Boothbay on September 11. Support the local library and railway village with onsite book purchases, and get your books signed!

Award-winning author Irene M. Drago, author of The Maine Point, grew up in a Navy family. Before moving to Maine, she worked for the Defense Department as a Russian analyst, earned a Master of Arts degree in Spanish language and literature, and taught at the high school and college level. When she fell under the spell of an historic home in Bath, she convinced her husband to follow her to the coast of Maine where she was inspired to write Daughters of Long Reach and its sequel, The Maine Point. Ms. Drago is the recipient of a Next Generation Indie Book Award and a Spirit of Bath Award. In the summer, she and her husband enjoy piloting their boat around Casco Bay with their children and grandchildren.

Come meet Irene and dozens of other authors at Books in Boothbay on September 11. Support the local library and railway village with onsite book purchases, and get your books signed!

Meet the Authors: William Chanler

While jogging in Central Park, 22-year-old blueblood Mary Godwin, an investigative journalist with Manhattan Magazine, is observed by sadistic and angry veteran Howard Peters. Upbeat and energetic, Mary will need to tap every ounce of strength to survive Peters and other traumatic events that threaten to destroy her.

When a terrorist takes over the top floor of the Freedom Tower, Mary and others are taken hostage. She survives the ordeal, but not before witnessing the murder of an innocent woman. After the terrorist is captured, anti-terrorist intelligence agent Gary Marston encourages her to interview the terrorist.

Peters watches Mary speak at a news conference. Looking for a target for his unresolved anger, he chooses Mary as his next victim.

William "Bill" Chanler is the author of Terrorized in New York City as well as Son of Terror, lauded by bestselling author and Maine resident Douglas Preston. "Chanler's novel picks up where Shelley's ends. A wonderful, horrifying, poignant tale. With vivid characters, a spectacular setting, and a frightening and complex plot, I highly recommend this imaginative sequel." 

Come meet Bill and dozens of other authors at Books in Boothbay on September 11. Support the local library and railway village with onsite book purchases, and get your books signed!

Meet the Authors: BJ Magnani

More than 20 years ago, Dr. Lily Robinson--the brilliant pathologist and toxicologist--was a member of a scientific expedition in Colombia that ended in the death of her colleagues and, presumably, her little girl. Unaware of the true circumstances of her tragedy, her memory blocked in self-preservation, Dr. Robinson's despair made her fair game for recruitment by a secret government agency whose objective is to eliminate threats to a free and peaceful world. Her guiding mantra, "the good of the many outweighs the good of the one," allowed her to rationalize, and to lead, a double life--a physician in one world, and a covert assassin in another.

Author of The Power of Poison, BJ Magnani, PhD, MD, is Professor of Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. Dr. Magnani has used her knowledge of toxicology to create medical thrillers featuring Dr. Lily Robinson, who doubles as an assassin for the government. Fictional works include Lily Robinson and the Art of Secret Poisoning and The Queen of All Poisons.

Come meet Dr. Magnani and dozens of other authors at Books in Boothbay on September 11. Support the local library and railway village with onsite book purchases, and get your books signed!

Meet the Authors: Bette Stevens

Inspired by The Pine Tree State—Maine’s diverse landscape, natural beauty, rural communities, and independent people—Bette A. Stevens' 150 haiku poems, along with 49 of her photographs, reflect the Maine she knows and loves. Bette's imagery draws the reader into her world of wonder and delight. My Maine takes readers on a poetic journey through Maine’s four seasons. This is a collection to be slowly savored, made even more delectable with the author’s original drawings and photographs. 

Bette is the author of AMAZING MATILDA, an award-winning children’s picture book; The Tangram Zoo and Word Puzzles Too!, a home/school resource incorporating hands-on math and writing; and PURE TRASH, the short story prequel to her debut novel, DOG BONE SOUP, a Boomer’s coming-of-age story set in 1950s and 60s New England. A retired teacher, wife, mother of two, and grandmother of five, Bette lives in Central Maine with her husband. 

Meet Bette and dozens of Maine authors when Books in Boothbay returns on September 11. A portion of on-site book sales will benefit the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library and the Boothbay Harbor Railway Village. 

Meet the Authors: Matt Cost

Love in a Time of Hate is the powerful new historical novel by Matthew Langdon Cost. While it takes place during the post-Civil War era, change horses for cars and bustles for blue jeans, and the story is just as relevant today. The novel spans the years from 1866, just after the Civil War, until 1874. Emmett Collins, the Yankee soldier from Maine, has come down to New Orleans to set up an education program helping newly freed Black slaves. Emmett fights (literally and figuratively) for Black suffrage in the face of the violent pushback from the entrenched Southerners who want Louisiana to revert to pre-Civil War ways.  

Author Matt Cost is the highly acclaimed, award-winning author of the Mainely Mystery series. The first book, Mainely Power, was selected as the Maine Humanities Council Read ME fiction book of 2020. 

Matt now lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife Harper. They have four grown children, a chocolate Lab and a Basset Hound to round out the mix. He now spends his days at the computer, writing.

Come meet Matt and dozens of additional authors at this year's Books in Boothbay on September 11! A portion of the proceeds from on-site book sales will go to support the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library and the Boothbay Harbor Railway Village Museum. See you there!

   **PRESS RELEASE**

Books in Boothbay Welcomes Maine’s Debut Novelist Caitlin Wahrer–Hailed by Stephen King and The New York Times

Wahrer joins nearly 40 authors for the state’s premier book fair on September 11, 2021

 

BOOTHBAY HARBOR, August 17, 2021 – Books in Boothbay, a free, family-friendly literary event now in its 17^th year, announces a growing lineup of Maine authors, including debut novelist Caitlin Wahrer, author of The Damage—lauded by Steven King as a must-read for pulling him in from the first page and by The New York Times as one of the “buzziest new books” and “a rollercoaster of terror, marked by whip-fast twists and turns.”

 

Wahrer joins nearly 40 other Maine authors who have signed up to meet fans and sign books at the 17^th Annual Books in Boothbay on September 11, 2021 at the Boothbay Railway Village Museum in Boothbay Harbor, ME. To help ensure sufficient social distancing, there will be two sessions: 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. A portion of the proceeds from on-site book sales, facilitated by Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shops, benefit both the railway village and the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library.

 

“The funds from this event will go toward adult and children’s free public programming including children’s early literacy kits, authors’ talks, and movie nights at the library,” says Joanna Breen, executive director at Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library. “Our mission is to create a welcoming space in which to explore ideas, foster community, and nurture individual growth through open access to the tools to learn, dream, connect, and do. Books in Boothbay helps us do just that.”

 

Author Line-Up*

Morning Session 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Kerri Arsenault, Danielle Bannister, Hilary Bartlett, Sarah Carlson, Richard Cass, Matt Cost, Irene M. Drago, Fran Hodgkins, Peter Ilgenfritz, Susan T. Landry, Mary Lawrence, BJ Magnani, S. Lee Manning, Sandra Neily, Anne Britting Oleson, Maria Padian, T. Blen Parker, Barbara Ross, David Sloan, Kevin St. Jarre, Lara Tupper, James M. Wright, Caitlin Wahrer

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Afternoon Session 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.

Cheryl Blaydon, Ellen Booraem, Charlene D’Avanzo, Jean Flahive, Kate Flora, Cheryl Gillespie, Jason Grundstrom-Whitney, Gerry W. Hawes, Tom Huntington, Len Mattano, Dave Patterson, Dale T. Phillips, Lynne Schmidt, Bette Stevens, Thomas Urquhart                                                                                                                         

 

*Author line-up subject to change, so be sure to visit the event blog at booksinboothbay.blogspot.com/ or follow us at facebook.com/booksinboothbay. 

Admission to the book fair is always free. Those who would like to enjoy other exhibits at the Boothbay Railway Village Museum can purchase tickets on-site. Come hungry for breakfast—CC Snack Company’s taco truck will serve breakfast tacos from 9 a.m. – 11 a.m.

 

About Books in Boothbay

Now in its 17th year, Books in Boothbay is the largest and longest running book fair in the state of Maine. The annual family-friendly event attracts authors from across the state and book lovers everywhere. A portion of the proceeds from on-site book sales through Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shops go to support the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library and the Boothbay Railway Village Museum. For more information, visit www.booksinboothbay.blogspot.com/ or follow @booksinboothbay on Facebooks for updates.

 

Media Contact:  Anne Hendricks

                             booksinboothbaymedia@gmail.com

                                       

Meet the Authors: Richard Cass

Richard Cass grew up in Boston, lived through the bussing years, and graduated from Boston Latin School, the oldest public school in the United States. He’s had the very good fortune to study with such superb writers and teachers as Thomas Williams Jr., Ernest Hebert, and Ursula K. LeGuin, none of whom should be held responsible for how he turned out. Dick is the author of the Elder Darrow Boston jazz mystery series, which he pitched as “an alcoholic walks into a dive bar and decides to buy it.” Solo Act was published in January of 2016 and was a finalist for the 2017 Maine Literary Awards in the Crime Fiction category. The prequel to Solo Act, In Solo Time, was published in September, 2017, and won the 2018 Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction. Burton's Solo, the third book, was published in 2018, and Last Call at the Esposito, the fourth in the series, in 2019. The most recent entry, Sweetie Bogan's Sorrow, was published in 2020.  Dick serves on the board of Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance and lives in Cape Elizabeth. Books from dozens of Maine authors will be available for purchase at Books in Boothbay, September 11, 2021. On-site book sales benefit the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library and the Boothbay Harbor Railway Village. Be sure to get your books signed by your favorite authors!

Meet the Authors: Len Mattano

Len Mattano is an author and physician whose experiences caring for children with cancer underlie the heart of this story: Celtic Crossing. For generations Aideen Callaghan’s ancestors were miraculously cured of cancer through the power of a holy relic—the very relic that inspired the Celtic cross—until it vanished from history in 1866 and became Irish lore. Raised on faith but with an inheritance of death, Aideen has been at odds with religion since losing her daughter to a brain tumor. Now it is her orphaned grandson who lies dying. In desperation Aideen turns to popular American author and New Testament era scholar Fr. Kevin Schaeffer for help. Armed with a priceless family Bible and the sacred pendant worn by Aideen’s beloved great-grandmother—the last to be cured—Kevin abandons his sabbatical research in Dublin and sets his sights on finding the relic in time to save the child.  Just as Len knew at an early age that he wanted to be a doctor, he later discerned a calling to help children with cancer and blood disorders. So when the idea for Celtic Crossing came to him one day, he acted. The story drew on his talents as a writer, but even more deeply from walking alongside patients and families on life's most difficult journeys. The author hopes that this enthralling suspense novel—where medicine and miracles converge—will move the heart of every reader. When not home in Mystic, Connecticut, Len and his wife work from their seasonal oceanside cabin in East Boothbay, Maine. Come meet Len and dozens of other authors at Books in Boothbay on September 11. Support the local library and railway village with onsite book purchases, and get your books signed!

Meet the Authors: Ellen Booraem

Magic moves in next door in this hilarious and heartfelt middle grade fantasy about a resourceful girl battling a temperamental thunder wizard in Ellen Booraem's latest book River Magic. It is Ellen's fourth book, after spending 19 years as a small-town journalist before quitting her day job to write middle-grade fantasy. She is also the author of Texting the Underworld, Small Persons with Wings, and The Unnameables. Ellen also finds time to volunteer as a writing coach for students in her local middle school and is a founding organizer for Word, the annual Blue Hill (Maine) literary arts festival. She lives in Brooklin, Maine.  Meet Ellen and dozens of Maine authors Books in Boothbay on September 11, 2021. On-site book sales benefit the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library and the Boothbay Harbor Railway Village. Be sure to get your books signed by your favorite authors! See you there!

Meet the Authors: Dave Patterson

Set over the course of one propulsive summer, Soon the Light Will Be Perfect chronicles the journey of two brothers on the cusp of adulthood, a town battered by poverty, and a family at a breaking point. In spare, fiercely honest prose, author Dave Patterson captures what it feels like to be gloriously, violently alive at a moment of political, social, and familial instability. The New York Post called the book "a stunning debut," and the New York Public Library declared it "devastating, beautiful, worth it." Dave's work has appeared in Slice Magazine, Salon, Hot Metal Bridge, and Blinders Literary Journal among others. He is a contributing writer to Maine Magazine and was a finalist for a 2019 Maine Literary Award. Patterson teaches high school English in Maine and at Southern New Hampshire University’s Online MFA program in Creative Writing. Meet Dave and dozens of Maine authors Books in Boothbay on September 11, 2021. On-site book sales benefit the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library and the Boothbay Harbor Railway Village. Be sure to get your books signed by your favorite authors! See you there!

Meet the Authors: Caitlin Wahrer

“Pulled me in from the first page... put this one high on your summer list.”—Stephen King “[One of the] buzziest new books arriving this season… [a] rollercoaster of terror, marked by whip-fast twists and turns.”—New York Times The Damage is the debut novel by Maine author Caitlin Wahrer. It's about a small-town family pushed to the brink and forced to discover just how far they will go to protect one of their own -- an edgy, propulsive read about what we will do in the name of love and blood. Born to two hippies in a small town in Maine, Caitlin left the state for college but returned to attend law school and practice law, where she worked on cases involving some of the broad issues she writes about in The Damage. She lives in southern Maine with her husband.  Meet Caitlin and dozens of Maine authors when Books in Boothbay returns on September 11, 2021. A portion of on-site book sales will benefit the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library and the Boothbay Railway Village. Be sure to get your books signed!

Meet the Authors: Fran Hodgkins

Fran Hodgkins returns to Books in Boothbay on September 11. She has written more than 24 books for young readers, including the well-loved Andre the Famous Harbor Seal, a biography of one of Maine's favorite residents. Her work also includes The Secret Galaxy, winner of the California Reading Association's Eureaka! Award for nonfiction, and Hex: The Apprentice, part of a magical realism trilogy.  She lives in Rockport, Maine with her husband, children, three cats, a dog, and a grumpy rabbit. Come meet Fran and dozens of other authors at Books in Boothbay on September 11. Support the local library and railway village with onsite book purchases, and get your books signed!

Meet the Authors: Kerri Arsenault

Kerri Arsenault grew up in the rural working class town of Mexico, Maine. For over 100 years the community orbited around a paper mill that employs most townspeople, including three generations of her own family. Years after she moved away, Kerri realized the price she paid for her seemingly secure childhood. The mill, while providing livelihoods for nearly everyone, also contributed to the destruction of the environment and the decline of the town’s economic, physical, and emotional health in a slow-moving catastrophe, earning the area the nickname “Cancer Valley.” Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains is a personal investigation, where Kerri sifts through historical archives and scientific reports, talks to family and neighbors, and examines her own childhood to illuminate the rise and collapse of the working-class, the hazards of loving and leaving home, and the ambiguous nature of toxins and disease. Mill Town is a moral wake-up call that asks, "Whose lives are we willing to sacrifice for our own survival?" Mill Town was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Leonard Prize and won the Maine Literary Award for nonfiction. Kerri is a book critic, teacher, book editor at Orion magazine, and contributing editor at The Literary Hub. Meet Kerri and dozens of Maine authors at Books in Boothbay on September 11, 2021. On-site book sales benefit the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library and the Boothbay Harbor Railway Village. Be sure to get your books signed by your favorite authors! See you there!

Meet the Authors: Kate Flora

 

Kate Flora returns to Books in Boothbay on September 11. A long-time favorite of Maine's premier book fair, Kate's fascination with people's criminal tendencies began in the Maine attorney general's office. Deadbeat dads, people hurting their kids, and employers' discrimination aroused her curiosity about human behavior. The author of 21 books and many short stories, Flora's been a finalist for the Edgar, Agatha, Anthony, and Derringer awards. She won the Public Safety Writers Association award for nonfiction and twice won the Maine Literary Award. Her most recent books are Death Comes Knocking and A World of Deceit and a story collection, Careful What You Wish For: Stories of revenge, retribution, and the world made right. 2020 saw a romantic suspense, Wedding Bell Ruse, and stories in The Faking of the President, and the Heartbreaks and Half-Truths anthology. Flora's nonfiction, focusing on aspects of the public safety officers' experience, includes two true crimes, Finding Amy: A true story of murder in Maine (with Joseph K. Loughlin) and Death Dealer: How cops and cadaver dogs brought a killer to justice, the co-written memoir, A Good Man with a Dog: A Game Warden's 25 Years in the Maine Woods, and Shots Fired: The Misconceptions, Misunderstandings, and Myths about police shootings with Joseph K. Loughlin.

Meet the Authors: Kevin St. Jarre

Kevin St. Jarre returns to Maine for Books in Boothbay on September 11. His latest novel The Twin is the fictional retelling of the story of Jesus of Nazareth from the point of view of Thomas Didymus, known to most as Doubting Thomas. The narrative draws upon the belief of many that Jesus traveled to Kashmir during the “missing” years of his youth, studied Buddhism, and then returned to Galilee to begin his ministry.

Styled as a document translated by a professor of classics from the University of Cincinnati, who is obviously inept and an egotist, who includes his notes and footnotes throughout. The novel explores the characters, stories, and miracles from the Bible, and from other texts such as the Gnostic gospels, but also attempts to fill in some of the gaps…of which there are many.

Kevin earned his MFA in Creative Writing, with a concentration in fiction, from University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast program. He has studied at the Norman Mailer Writers Center on Cape Cod with Sigrid Nunez and David Black. He has worked as a teacher, a professor, a newspaper reporter, an international corporate consultant, and led a combat intelligence team in the first Gulf War. 

Kevin's previous novels include Celestine, as well as Aliens, Drywall, and a Unicycle.