Richards Free Library

Engage, Enrich, Entertain

Monica Wood

Exciting News: Join Us for an Evening with Hale Award Winner Monica Wood!

We are thrilled to announce that the 2024 Hale Award ceremony will be held on September 7th at the Newport Opera House. This year’s event promises to be extra special, as we honor the talented author Monica Wood.

The ceremony starts at 7 PM and is free and open to the public. We encourage everyone to come and celebrate this remarkable literary achievement.

But wait—there’s more!

Before the ceremony, you have the unique opportunity to join us for the Hale Award Author Dinner at the Old Court House Restaurant. The dinner begins at 5 PM, and this is your chance to enjoy a meal with Monica Wood herself, alongside fellow book lovers and community members.

Tickets for the dinner are on sale now for $50 each. Seats are limited, so don’t wait to secure your spot at the table. To purchase your tickets, please call the Richards Free Library at 603-863-3430.

We look forward to seeing you there for an unforgettable evening of good food, great company, and the celebration of outstanding literary work. Don’t miss out on this special event!

Monica Wood to Accept the 2024 Hale Award

The Richards Free Library proudly announces best-selling Maine author, Monica Wood, as the recipient of the 2024 Sarah Josepha Hale Award. 

Monica Wood is an award-winning novelist, memoirist and playwright. Originally from Mexico, Maine, her writing tells character-driven stories about life-changing events. Wood was awarded the 2019 Constance Carlson Prize for contributions to the public humanities in

Maine; and the 2018 Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance Distinguished Achievement Award for her contributions to the literary arts.

Her newest novel, “How to Read a Book,” has already secured translation rights in five countries. Her previous novel, the bestselling “The One-in-a-Million Boy,” has been translated into 20 languages in over 30 countries. She is also the author of “When We Were the Kennedys,” a New England bestseller and winner of the May Sarton Memoir Award. Her other fiction, “Any Bitter Thing,” “Ernie’s Ark,” and “My Only Story” have also won awards and made bestseller lists. Her short stories have been widely anthologized and featured

on Public Radio International. Her nonfiction and reviews have appeared in O, the New York Times, Literary Hub, Down East, the San Francisco Chronicle, Martha Stewart Living, Parade and many other publications. She has also written several books for aspiring writers and three plays including “The Half-Light,” “Saint Dad,” and “Papermaker,” that in 2015 debuted in an extended run at Maine’s Portland Stage. She lives in Portland with her husband, Dan Abbott, and their cat, Susie.

Please join us Saturday September 7, 2024 at 7pm at the Newport Opera House for the award ceremony, which will include a speech by Wood as well as book sales and signing. The award ceremony is free and open to the public.

We will once again host a dinner with the author at the Old Courthouse Restaurant on the same evening at 5pm, prior to the ceremony. Dinner tickets are available for purchase at the library.