Save the Date: Word’s 10th Annual Festival of the Literary Arts Happens October 22 to 25 in Blue Hill

Join Our Online Discussion of Kelly Link’s The Book of Love

On October 23, bestselling author Kelly Link will be joining Ben Shattuck, author of the the award-winning 2025 short story collection, The History of Sound, to discuss the art of the short story for Word. For those who’d like to know more about the extraordinary work of this author, Word will also be hosting an online discussion of The Book of Love, Link’s celebrated 2024 debut novel the book club meeting will take place on Sunday, September 13, at 2 p.m..

Copies of the book will be available through Blue Hill Books at a 20 percent discount or from local libraries.

Described by The New York Times as “profoundly beautiful,” Link’s novel follows three small-town teenagers who have returned from the dead and must learn magic to compete with one another for another chance at life. They do so while contending with the enternal challenges of love, friendship and family. "The Book of Love is, simply put, a magical, confusing, heartfelt, strange, wonderfully written novel that delivers everything fans of Link's short fiction expected while also packing a few surprises," says National Public Radio.

A 2018 MacArthur Fellow, Link is the author of five story collections. She runs an independent bookstore in Easthampton, MA, and will not be present for the September discussion, but you can ask her all about the novel when she comes to Blue Hill for the Word festival in October.

WORD WRITING CONTEST OPENS

Wordannounces its third annual Writing Contest. Submissions are now being accepted for works of fiction up to fifteen hundred words. The Contest will select winners in two age categories: Adult (eighteen and older) and Youth (fourteen – seventeen). Prizes for each winner include a cash award of $100, publication in The Stonecoast Review (literary arts journal of the University of Southern Maine’s MFA program), and the opportunity to read the winning entries at this year’s tenth Festival October 22 to 25, 2026 in Blue Hill. For more information, see our contest page.

Writers meet and mingle — Gather, July 15

You’re invited! Join the Word community for camaraderie and conversation. No agenda, just talking writing, reading, and life. Order a drink or some nosh and settle in with like-minded friends, new and old.

Gather, a long-time Maine Writers and Publishers Association program, offers writers at all levels of experience six opportunities a year to get together and takes place simultaneously at various sites around the state on the third Wednesday of alternate months. Gather events are not open readings, manuscript exchanges or organized writing-prompt sessions, but offer opportunities for the literary-minded to meet and plan any of those things and more.

We’ll meet at 6 p.m., Wednesday July 15 at
Marlintini’s Bar and Grill, 83 Mines Road, Blue Hill
No reservations are necessary.

Thanks to everyone who came out for Word 2025!

Are you on our mailing list? No?! Send an email to word.bluehill@gmail.com and you’ll hear all about the good stuff first.

Word’s Writing Contest Winners Announced

Many thanks to the delicious sponsors donating to the
Taste of the Blue Hill Peninsula
benefit reception

Blaze, Brooklin Candy, Blue Chill, Blue Hill Co-op, Blue Hill Wine Shop, Brooklin Inn, El El Frijoles, Fin & Fern, Hannaford, Marlinitini’s, Pilgrim’s inn, Siam Sky, Strong’s Public House, Tinder Hearth, Waukeag Neck Oysters

Word is made possible by the generous support of many community businesses and partner organizations as well as individual donors and volunteers. We are deeply grateful to our fiscal sponsor, Blue Hill Community Development, and to all sponsors and supporters of Blue Hill’s literary festival. Partners include WERU-FM, the Blue Hill Public Library, and Blue Hill Books.

Contact Us

word.bluehill@gmail.com
facebook.com/Word.BlueHill/

Word is a non-profit organization with fiscal sponsorship from Blue Hill Community Development