Writing for the Love of It
Kate Kennedy speaks on writing in Biddeford
Writers of all stamps and kinds—young adult fiction, historical nonfiction, personal essay, fantasy, poetry, and more—are visiting New Books, New Readers groups this winter in a program partially funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. The Visiting Writer program is showing adults who struggle to read what it means to be a writer, and inspiring them in the process.
Adult education partners have helped the MHC take this program to communities across the state, where we have benefited from the diversity of writers in Maine. In Biddeford, it was novelist Kate Kennedy. In Skowhegan, it was essayist and poet Annaliese Jakimides (working with the group’s scholar/facilitator, historian David Richards). New Hampshire novelist Terry Farish, who also writes children’s fiction and folktales, came to York. Fantasy writer Kristen Britain, whose books have been on the New York Times Bestseller list, came to Bangor. In Van Buren, poet Geraldine Becker joined the group. Farmington with Pat O’Donnell and Oxford Hills with Kate Kennedy are yet to come.
Every group, scholar/facilitator, and site is different, program director Julia Walkling told me, but one thing everyone had in common is their interest in the people behind the book. And participants have loved the experience. They learned that most writers feels the draw to their profession not out of choice but necessity: they simply can’t not do it. The process is long and hard, taking years. But they also learned that writers are normal people with ideas, just like themselves.
The project is helping participants realize the complexity of the creative process, but also how it can apply to their own creative writing. Most of all, they are walking away from their sessions knowing that writing for the fun of it is the best way to write.
