Maine Authors Publishing will be hosting their fourth annual book festival Saturday, Aug. 26 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 12 High St. in Thomaston. Forty-eight authors will be in attendance to sign and sell their books. The event will also include a children’s area hosted by the Coastal Children’s Museum, presentations, raffles, live music by Don and Cindy Roy, food and drink from Station 118, and ice cream from Stone Fox Farm Creamery.

From 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., children’s authors Amy Johnson and Diane Madden will present “Hatching: The Story of Neeps and Tattie.” Join coauthors Johnson and Madden as they share how a chance meeting in Scotland prompted them to write a children’s book and simultaneously advocate for tortoises. Following a book reading, the authors will be joined by special tortoise guests Tim and Rebel, residents of Herp Haven in Brunswick, and their handler, Denise Cieri, who will talk about her rescue work and the commitment involved in keeping a tortoise as a pet. Following the presentation, there will be a “turtle craft” for children.

From 1:30–2:30 p.m., author Mary S. Build will present “It’s Never Too Late to Do What You Love.” Build will share her process in finding her purpose in flying at the age of 47. She always thought she wanted to be a nurse, but after being married at 19 and having her first child at 20, she felt something was missing in her life. Build gave up her job in the supermarket industry and moved to Maine. From there she embarked on her new life in the sky. Build will discuss how her decision allowed her to find her purpose, and she’ll also share memorable flying stories—one about ending up in a plane underwater in an accident and another about a flight to Alaska.

Authors who will be in attendance to sign and sell their books are -  Fiction authors: Claire Ackroyd (Murder in the Maple Woods), William Anthony (Farnsy), Philip C. Baker (Hunger Hill), Patsy Baldus (Love, Lutefisk, and Lemon Zest Sneakers), J. G. Breerwood (Sinking Dixie), Nancy Arey Cohen (Faraway Love), Rowland Creitz (A Debt Too Dear; To Touch the Earth Again; The Money Lake), Charlene D’Avanzo (Demon Spirit, Devil Sea; Glass Eels, Shattered Sea; Secrets Haunt the Lobsters’ Sea; The Shark, the Girl & the Sea), Peggy L. DeBlois (The Toll Road North), Scott Dickerson (Telling Stone), Irene M. Drago (The Maine Point; Daughters of Long Reach; Lavinia Wren and the Sailmakers), Kathy Eliscu (Not Even Dark Chocolate Can Fix This Mess), Bruce A. Fleming (Pressing Matters; Last Will & Punishment; Battle Lines Drawn), Deborah Gould (The Eastern, Book One: The Early Years; The Eastern, Book Two: Later On; Household), Norman R. Kalloch, Jr. (45th Parallel; A Long Way to Walk; Life in the Backwoods; Stranded), Beverly D. Knowles (Echoes from Deane Mountain), Barbara Kent Lawrence (Islands of Time; The Other Island: Ben’s Story), Robert Monroe (Bungalow Terrace), James and Luanne Napoli (Death in Venison), Brooke Pacey (Vanishing Act), Robert J. Ristino (The Illuminati Circle; The Illuminati Sanction), Jane Sloven (Termination of Benefits), Robert Spencer (Francena Hallett’s Heart; Prospects; The Spinster’s Hope Chest), and Richard Wile (Requiem in Stones).

Nonfiction authors: Roger H. Greene (In the Company of Trees: The Empirical Forest), Margaret W. Jones (Walking Sacred Sites), Vernita Leins (Fostering Marcel; Josie’s Story), Don Reimer (Seen Anything Good?), and June Vail (The Passion of Perfection; Folly Cove Sketches). Memoir/biography authors: Laurie Apgar Chandler (Through Woods & Waters; Upwards), Mimi Gough (From Fledgling to Flyer), Christopher G. Lockwood (Why the Cane?), and Richard Wile (The Geriatric Pilgrim). Poetry author: Betsy Headley (The Clarity of Birds). Children’s book authors: Rae Chalmers (Bear and the Oxbow Island Gang; Oxbow Island Gang: Leap Frog; Oxbow Island Gang: Lobster Graveyard; Oxbow Island Gang: Winter Crows), Gail Theroux Clark (The Adventures of Eloise Violet and Madeline Rose: The Island), Mary Morton Cowan (Trouble in Nathan’s Woods), Sandra Dunham (The Spiritual Warrior), Amy Johnson and Diane Madden (The Story of Neeps and Tattie), Samar Khuder (The Aurantium Tree), Laurence H. Leavitt (Ada Bea’s Downeast Adventure), Christopher Lockwood (The Tennis Ball Trees), Brook Merrow (Trapped), J. Philip Miller (Milo Meander), Kathleen Murray-Allain (The Girl with Berries), Robert J. Ristino (Dogs vs. Aliens), Susan A. Starr (The Amazing Adventures of Sammie the Salmon; The Birthright), Judi Valentine (The Crystal Chain), and Susan Vaughan (Sleigh Magic). Gift book authors: Vickie Hughes Baron (Maine Fun Facts Word Search Puzzle Books 1 & 2), Deborah H. Gould (Rec’d Your Card…Thot You Was Dead), and Susan A. Starr (Memoirs of a Mad Innkeeper: The Muffin Recipes Revealed).

For more information, visit www.MaineBookFestival.com.

Local Thomaston business Station 118 will have a customized menu for the event including tacos, burgers, and other BBQ offerings for sale along with beer and wine. See the Maine Authors Book Festival website for complete menu information. Stone Fox Farm Creamery will have homemade ice cream for purchase.

Don and Cindy Roy’s music is deeply rooted in two strains of Franco-American tradition: Quebecois (from Canada’s province of Quebec) and Acadian (from the Maritime provinces of Canada), both significant to the heritage of New England’s robust French-Canadian communities. In 2018 Don and Cindy were honored to receive the National Heritage Fellowship Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, our nation’s highest honor given to traditional musicians. FMI: www.donroyonline.com.

The Knox Museum has generously allowed book festival patrons to park in their parking lot, and Maine Authors Publishing thanks them for their continued support. The museum will be open during the festival and will also offer a vendor area. There will also be parking available along High Street - please follow the directional signs.

Raffle ticket sales will be donated to support the Coastal Maine Children’s Museum and the Thomaston Public Library. Both organizations will have a festival presence, and the Coastal Children’s Museum will have a dedicated children’s area as well as a tortoise guest.

Maine Authors Publishing has been bringing local stores, readers, and writers together since 2009. As a cooperative-style publisher, their goal is to support local independent authors throughout the publishing process with affordable services such as editing, design, printing, a trade catalog, distribution, and marketing assistance. Only a percentage of books are accepted under the Maine Authors Publishing imprint after they have been vetted for writing and design quality. For more information, visit www.MaineAuthorsPublishing.com.