First Lady Karen Baldacci invites Maine children to Read with ME

Maine is a state with a rich literary tradition. Our beautiful scenery and hardy residents have inspired writers for centuries, and several well-known authors have composed novels and poetry while either living in or visiting the state.

Beloved poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, author of Evangeline and The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, originally hailed from Portland, and his former home on Congress Street still welcomes visitors to this day. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin after a vision came to her while living in the town of Brunswick. Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay was inspired by the view from the top of Mt. Battie in Camden to compose her poem Renascence, and famed naturalist Henry David Thoreau wrote The Maine Woods after a trip to Moosehead Lake in Greenville.

Today Maine continues to inspire writers. Bangor’s own Stephen King is one of the country’s most celebrated authors, and sets many of his books in Maine. There is even a bus tour dedicated to guiding visitors around many of the local sites that have appeared in King’s novels.

It is important that we nurture our literary, cultural tradition and share our love of reading with Mainers of all ages and backgrounds. Maine Reads was established in 2004 to draw on the state’s literary roots while also promoting literacy through public policy and working to provide access to quality literacy programs for everyone. For the past seven years, Maine Reads has presented Read With ME, an outreach program that distributes book bags containing a book and reading activity handouts to every kindergartner in Maine.

One of the reasons the Read With ME program is so important is that it reaches out to our youngest readers and strives to instill a life-long love of reading at an early age. I hope encouraging our children to read and learn will further motivate them to stay in school and continue on to higher education after they graduate.

Our programs are not limited to only the young. Through Maine Reads we are trying to reach out to all Mainers, particularly those in more underserved areas, to encourage a love of all forms of literature.

This year I have been working with Maine Reads to create a major literary festival, the Maine Festival of the Book. I have visited several festivals celebrating reading and writing throughout the country, and have always dreamed of holding a similar event in Maine. The festival will take place June 22-24 at various locations in downtown Portland and will offer more than 50 free readings, discussions, writing workshops and performances designed for all ages and interests. Several area literacy nonprofits and cultural organizations are also involved in the event.

The goal is to attract people from all over the state to this literary extravaganza. The events, covering many different genres and topics, should appeal to as wide an audience as possible. In addition to author readings, there will be theatrical performances, storytelling, poetry readings, and writing panels covering topics from mystery to romance to graphic novels and children’s books.

Major writers from outside the state will join Maine’s talented group of outstanding local authors. Pulitzer Prize winners David McCullough and Maxine Kumin, and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist Jane Brox are among those attending the festival, as well as children’s authors Brian Lies, Scott Nash and Allen Sockabasin.

I would like to personally invite you to join us at the Festival of the Book. It promises to be an educational and entertaining event for book lovers and new readers alike. I look forward to seeing you there!

Karen M. Baldacci is Maine’s First Lady.