A Writer's Guide to Orono, Maine
Orono's literary life starts on the University of Maine campus. In Neville Hall, the Center for Poetry and Poetics publishes the journal Paideuma and NPF Books, and Fogler Library's Special Collections holds literary titles by Maine authors among its Maine material. Bangor, about 8 miles south, has an independent bookstore and a downtown café with a dining room. Poets and novelists end up in the same reading rooms as faculty finishing a monograph.
Libraries · Bookstores · Places to Write · Places to Eat · Writing Community · Press · Journals · Awards and Grants · Printing and Binding · When the Manuscript Is Ready
Libraries
Bring a photo ID and a pencil to Fogler's Special Collections, and give a week's notice for manuscripts or newspapers stored off-site.
Orono Public Library is the town's library, on Pine Street. The Town of Orono lists the Dana and Mary Ann Devoe Community Room at the same address. It holds 35 and has a projector and screen.
Special Collections is a major repository for Maine-related material. Writers will find literary titles by Maine authors alongside the Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History. Sign the department register and have a photo ID ready. Take notes in pencil or on a laptop. The department is open weekdays.
Bangor Public Library, about 8 miles south of Orono, runs book groups and keeps a Genealogy & Local History collection. It has meeting rooms you can reserve. Each December the Bangor Authors' Collaborative holds its free Bangor Authors' Book Fair and Literary Festival there with the library, and Maine writers sign books and give readings and talks. The library is closed Sundays.
Brewer Public Library is across the Penobscot River from Bangor, about 9 miles south of Orono. It has a Research Room and meeting rooms, and it is open Monday through Saturday.
The Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation keeps the Stephen E. King Archives. Credentialed scholars can apply for access. Write through the contact form on the foundation's archive page.
Independent Bookstores
Drive the 8 miles to downtown Bangor, and check the store's events before you go.
The Briar Patch sells new books in downtown Bangor. Look for its Maine-authors section and signed editions. The store hosts author events, some of them ticketed, and runs book clubs, Hoppily Ever After for romance readers among them.
Places to Write
Take the laptop to Bagel Central for a morning, or apply for ten days of writing in Bangor through the King Foundation.
Bagel Central is a café and deli in downtown Bangor with a dining room. It is open daily for breakfast and lunch and serves an early light dinner. Need a room for a group? It rents one, the Central Meeting House.
The King Foundation runs ten-day writers' residencies in the Brown Mansion, next to the Stephen King House in Bangor. Residents receive an honorarium. There are three application tracks: recent creative writing MFA graduates, K-12 teachers, and Maine writers.
Places to Eat
Nocturnem pours craft beer in downtown Bangor, with burgers and tacos from the kitchen. It hosts live music and vinyl nights, and it features local artists.
Writing Community
Literary Organizations
The Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance, based in Portland, works statewide for Maine's writers and publishers. Its workshops run online and in person, in fiction, poetry, memoir, and creative nonfiction. It also holds retreats and the annual Maine Lit Fest. Use its directories to find Maine bookstores and publishers.
The Center for Poetry and Poetics, formerly the National Poetry Foundation, is the English Department's center for the study of modern and contemporary poetry. It publishes Paideuma and NPF Books, and it has hosted many summer conferences.
For Faculty and Researchers
Fogler is the University of Maine's library in Orono. Search the manuscript collections in Special Collections through ArchivesSpace before you visit. The university's libraries also host Maine Open Journals, a platform for journals.
The McGillicuddy Humanities Center supports humanities research at the University of Maine. It shares faculty scholarship through free public lectures around the state.
The Maine Humanities Council, based in Portland, funds humanities projects that involve a scholar or topic expert. Its public programs range from book groups to Read ME and Maine Speaks.
A Press in Orono
Look through the NPF back catalog before you start a book on a modern poet.
NPF Books is the imprint of the Center for Poetry and Poetics, with a back catalog that runs from 1974 to the present. Its list includes the Person and Poet series and Ezra Pound scholarship. Facsimile editions, literary criticism, and poetry are there too.
Journals Edited in Orono
Our Promise
We will ensure that the final draft you receive from us is completely ready to publish or submit. We work with you until it is ready or refund your payment in full.
Read each journal's author guidelines on the publisher's site before you format the article.
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment publishes research on environmental monitoring data, from the design of monitoring systems to pollutant exposure and pollution risk assessment. Its editor-in-chief is at the University of Maine in Orono. Preparing an article for Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
Written Communication is a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary quarterly from SAGE for research on writing in all its symbolic forms. Dylan Dryer, one of its two coeditors-in-chief, is an associate professor of composition studies at the University of Maine. Preparing an article for Written Communication
Awards, Grants, and Fellowships
For Maine Writers
Each of these is for writers who live in Maine. Read the eligibility rules before you apply.
The Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance gives the Maine Literary Awards each year to writers who live in Maine full- or part-time. Book awards run from crime and speculative fiction to memoir and poetry, and there are categories for short works and drama. The John N. Cole Award goes to Maine-themed nonfiction. Nonmembers can enter.
The alliance and the Maine Community Foundation give these fellowships to cover the full cost of a retreat or a multi-week workshop. They go to Maine writers 18 and older, in any genre, who have yet to publish a full-length book. Need and merit both count.
The Maine Arts Commission's fellowship is a merit award for excellence across a Maine artist's career. Literary Arts is one of its disciplines.
The commission's Artist Project Grant goes to individual Maine artists at any career stage. It can pay for new work or skill-building, or help bring work to the public.
Printing and Binding
Off the Grid Editing offers book printing and binding at competitive rates. We handle layout, cover design, and print-ready files once your manuscript is edited. See our book publishing and printing services. Local printers and binders near Orono, Maine are listed below.
Furbush-Roberts is a commercial printer in Bangor that has served Maine since 1938. It prints offset and digital and handles finishing and bindery work, with pre-press and graphic design in house.
The UPS Store on Broadway in Bangor prints documents and blueprints, along with posters and banners.
When the Manuscript Is Ready
Off the Grid Editing has edited books and scholarship since 2002.
Publishing Scholarship
For a monograph, an edited collection, or a revised dissertation headed to a university press: dissertation to book editing, our guides to academic press requirements, English language editing for researchers, and journal article editing.
Publishing Fiction, Memoir, and Poetry
For a novel, a story collection, a memoir, or a book of poems: fiction and creative nonfiction editing, memoir and biography editing, developmental editing, and our guides to trade and literary publishers.
Every manuscript can also go through copy editing, line editing, or proofreading. The book editing services page compares all four levels.
- Crafting a Book Proposal That Academic Publishers Cannot Ignore
- Seamlessly Integrating Block Quotations in Literary and Cultural Analysis
- Writing for the Peer Reviewer: Anticipating and Addressing Methodological Criticisms
- Condensing 200 Pages Into 25: Strategies for Extracting a Journal Article from a Dissertation
- Table and Figure Design: Presenting Complex Data for Maximum Clarity
Compiled by James Peterson Brown, PhD, Off the Grid Editing. Places and links checked November 2026.
Instant Manuscript Editing Invoice
Ready to order editing? Our secure portal gives you an immediate quote based on word count and sets your delivery date.
Our editors do not have access to your manuscript until an order is placed.
Direct Support
Reach our editorial team directly to discuss your manuscript or to find out which service fits your project. Initial consultations of up to 15 minutes are complimentary.
608-535-6324
editors@offthegridediting.com