LEWISTON — Two writers based in Maine and renowned nationally will take part in the Language Arts Live series of literary readings at Bates College.

Debra Spark, author of novels “The Ghost of Bridgetown” and “Good for the Jews,” will read from her work at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 11.

One of Maine’s most respected poets, Wesley McNair, will visit Bates at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28.

Both readings, open to the public free of charge, will take place in Skelton Lounge, Chase Hall, 56 Campus Ave.

Spark also wrote “Coconuts for the Saint” and “Curious Attractions: Essays on Fiction Writing,” a compilation of her lectures on writing. Her work has appeared in Esquire, Ploughshares, The New York Times, Food and Wine, Yankee, Down East, The Washington Post, Maine Home and Design and The San Francisco Chronicle. She was editor of the best-selling anthology “Twenty Under Thirty: Best Stories by America’s New Young Writers.”

Spark received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and the John Zacharis/Ploughshares award for best first book.

A Yarmouth resident, she is a professor at Colby College and teaches in the master’s of fine arts program for writers at Warren Wilson College.

McNair’s poems have won praise for more than 40 years. His most recent book, “Lovers of the Lost: New & Selected Poems,” showcases some of his best poetry from six previous volumes and a sampling of new work. He has authored or edited 18 books, including poetry, nonfiction and anthologies.

In 2006, McNair was selected for a prestigious U.S. Artists Fellowship, awarded annually to America’s finest living artists. He has held grants from the Fulbright and Guggenheim foundations, two Rockefeller Fellowships, an NEH Fellowship in literature and two NEA fellowships.

McNair, who lives in Mercer, served four times on the nominating committee for the Pulitzer Prize in poetry, and in 2010 was guest editor in poetry for the Pushcart Prize anthology. His poetry has appeared in two editions of “The Best American Poetry” and in more than 50 anthologies, and has been featured on NPR’s “Weekend Edition” and 14 episodes of “The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor.”

McNair was a professor at the University of Maine at Farmington from 1987 until his retirement in 2004. He founded and directed the creative writing program there and is now writer-in-residence at the University of Maine at Farmington.

For more information, call 786-6326 or 786-6256.