The library's Write On! group has been meeting, in person and remotely, on Saturday mornings since 2014. Attendees share group leadership, bringing manuscripts of fiction, memoir, poetry, and just about anything else for individualized feedback, and in turn offering feedback for others. Come hear us read from our work on Zoom, and learn more about us and how to join.
Before children, Joan FitzGerald was an award-winning financial news reporter. Since children, she has written short stories and essays, and a middle grade, environmental fantasy. She is currently at work on an adult dystopian novel. Joan lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts and has been a summer resident of Mt. Desert Island since birth. The Jesup Writers group has been an essential support for her work.
Andrew McQuinn was born and raised on MDI. He discovered his passion for writing in high school and wrote his first novel when he was a freshman in college. His debut novel Playing it out Straight was released last June. Andrew writes primarily gay fiction/romance, but also dabbles in horror, science fiction, and thriller. He currently lives on MDI with his pain in the butt cat Marty, or Sir Martin when he’s feeling extra dignified. You can follow Andrew on Instagram and Twitter @andrewmcquinn and can find his work on Amazon and at Sherman's locations throughout the state of Maine.
Steven Roiphe holds a nonrefundable degree from Harvard, where he studied creative writing, literature, and history. His prose has appeared in a number of literary magazines, garnering a Pushcart Prize nomination. He lives with his wife and young son in Lamoine, and is working on a novel that charts the tortured journey of Divine Justice through American history. He’ll be reading an excerpt from this, featuring the eighteenth-century radical abolitionist, vegan agitator, and cave-dwelling dwarf Benjamin Lay. You can follow him on Twitter, @StevenRoiphe.
Beth Ellen Warner grew up around storytellers. She began scribbling as a child and has written three books. Kennebunk Stories, Sanibel Stories and Hank's Stories are based on tales she has heard, personal experiences and humor. Garrison Keillor, during a Zoom workshop, advised Beth to read her stories aloud and record them. Beth is technically challenged and would welcome help from a sound engineer.
Carol Woolman began writing at age eleven, in response to the sudden death of an octogenarian uncle. She wrote to chronicle what happened that day and to remember, realizing only later that she had also written to understand and to find a voice. For the past four years Carol has been writing Ecology of Grief: A Mother's Witness, about living through the violent death of her 25-year-old son Mark Horner. It includes the penetrating and numbing sorrow but also adventure, surprise, mystery and meaning. For Carol, writing about death is a way to connect with life.