Monica Wood, Lewis Robinson headline Brunswick fundraiser for Midcoast Literacy

Every $38 ticket to Saturday’s Brunswick fundraiser will go to Midcoast Literacy, where about 150 volunteer tutors help adults, school-age children and English learners get the reading and language support they need in Midcoast Maine.

The event begins at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Brunswick and will bring together two of the state’s best-known writers, Monica Wood and Lewis Robinson, for an Author-to-Author evening. The format is built as more than a reading: Wood and Robinson will talk about what inspires them, discuss the craft of writing, then stay for a reception and book signing.

That makes the night a literary draw, but its sharper local purpose is the nonprofit behind it. Midcoast Literacy describes its mission as “Improving Lives Through Literacy,” and its free programs reach adults, children and families across Brunswick, Bath and the surrounding area. The organization offers individualized tutoring for adults and school-age children, workplace literacy group classes for English language learners employed at local businesses, family literacy sessions for preschool and Pre-K families, and free children’s books for low-income families.

For employers and families in Sagadahoc County and the rest of the Midcoast, that work lands in daily life. Literacy support affects whether a parent can help with homework, whether a new worker can build English skills on the job, and whether an adult can handle forms, schedules and basic communication without outside help. Midcoast Literacy says the need is met through the work of those volunteer tutors, who make the free services possible.

Wood and Robinson also bring name recognition that should help draw a crowd. Wood is the author of How to Read a Book, When We Were the Kennedys and the play Papermaker. Her memoir When We Were the Kennedys was a New England bestseller, an Oprah Magazine summer-reading pick and the winner of the May Sarton Memoir Award. Her short stories have won a Pushcart Prize, and Papermaker set Portland Stage’s all-time attendance record.

Robinson is known for The Islanders, Water Dogs and Officer Friendly and Other Stories. Water Dogs was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, while Officer Friendly and Other Stories won both a Whiting Award and the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award. He teaches creative writing at the University of Maine at Farmington.

The two writers have been part of the same southern Maine writing group for more than a decade, adding another layer of local connection to a fundraiser aimed squarely at strengthening literacy in the Midcoast.