STATE — Authors Lily King and Monica Wood will take the stage at Stone Mountain Arts Center on Aug. 9 for an event that has evolved from a tiny fundraiser to a tradition supporting children from every part of Maine.

The Evening with Maine Authors event began nine years ago as an informal gathering to support Camp Susan Curtis in Stoneham, not far from Stone Mountain in Brownfield. Camp Susan Curtis is the only camp in Maine that exclusively serves Maine children from low-income households, who would not otherwise be able to access the connection and learning of an overnight camp experience.

The small gathering to support the camp’s mission nine years ago at Stone Mountain’s Queen Post Cafe evolved fast to a regional tradition and a festive dinner in the Center’s Maine Concert Hall. The camp cause and the event headliners caught fire. Among the authors with Maine ties who supported the cause with their talents in past years were Kate Braestrup, Bruce Coffin, Kathy Gunst, Lois Lowry, Susan Hand Shetterly, Caitlin Shetterly, Margot Lee Shetterly, Aran Shetterly, Debra Spark, Elizabeth Strout, and the late Maine storyteller John McDonald.

This year’s evening with Lily King and Monica Wood is on Friday, Aug. 9, from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Stone Mountain Arts Center in Brownfield, with a cocktail hour, dinner, and author readings. Tickets are limited and can be purchased online at https://maineauthors8.eventbrite.com. Proceeds benefit Camp Susan Curtis.

The evening includes stories from young adults who have benefitted from the camp. Celebrating its 50th year, Camp Susan Curtis has helped more than 19,000 Maine children access life-changing camp experiences. The 10-day, overnight camp experience is 100 percent donor-funded and is the only summer camp in Maine that provides a completely free program designed especially for children facing economic hardship. Through immersive outdoor programming, a caring community, and helping young people access important childhood experiences, Maine kids feel valued and learn to recognize their potential. Learn more at susancurtis.org.

Lily King is the author of five award-winning novels. Her most recent novel, Writers & Lovers, was published in 2020 and her first collection of short stories, Five Tuesdays in Winter, was released in 2021. Her 2014 novel Euphoria won the Kirkus Award, The New England Book Award, and The Maine Fiction Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Award.

Euphoria was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2014 by The New York Times Book Review. It was included in TIME’s Top 10 Fiction Books of 2014, as well as on Amazon, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly, and Salon’s Best Books of 2014. Her other novels also achieved top ten and notable lists with Publishers Weekly, the New York Times, and the Chicago Tribune, among others.

Monica Wood is a novelist, memoirist, and playwright; the 2024 recipient of the Sara Josepha Hale Award for Excellence in New England Literary Arts; the 2019 recipient of the Maine Humanities Council Carlson Prize for contributions to the public humanities; and the 2016 recipient of the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance Distinguished Achievement Award for contributions to the literary arts. Her new novel, How to Read a Book, is out now.

Her most recent novel, The One-in-a-Million Boy, has been translated into 20 languages in over 30 countries. She is also the author of When We Were the Kennedys, a New England bestseller, Oprah magazine summer-reading pick, and winner of the May Sarton Memoir Award and the Maine Literary Award.