2026 Maine Library Association Annual Meeting and Conference

May 18-19th at Thomas College
Waterville, Maine

Monday Keynote Speaker:  Phuc Tran

PHUC TRAN—writer, tattooer, and classicist— has a train wreck résumé. His memoir SIGH, GONE won the 2020 New England Book Award and the 2021 Maine Literary Award. He has been a high school Latin teacher and tattooer for over twenty years, for which he has won no awards. Phuc’s 2012 TEDx talk was featured on NPR’s Ted Radio Hour, and he has been a Moth MainStage storyteller since 2023. Phuc has a children’s book series with bestselling illustrator Pete Oswald entitled CRANKY.

Tuesday Keynote Speaker: Tess Gerritsen

Internationally bestselling author Tess Gerritsen took an unusual route to a writing career. A graduate of Stanford University, Tess went on to medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, where she was awarded her M.D.

While on maternity leave from her work as a physician, she began to write fiction and in 1987, her first novel, Call After Midnight, was published. It was just the first of 31 suspense novels that she’s written over a 36-year writing career. She also wrote a screenplay, "Adrift," which aired as a 1993 CBS Movie of the Week starring Kate Jackson.

Tess's first medical thriller, Harvest, was released in hardcover in 1996, and it marked her debut on the New York Times bestseller list. Her novels have hit bestseller lists ever since. Among her titles are Gravity, The Surgeon, Vanish, The Bone Garden, and The Spy Coast. Her books have been translated into 40 languages, and more than 40 million copies have been sold around the world.

She has won both the Nero Wolfe Award (for Vanish) and the Rita Award (for The Surgeon). Critics around the world have praised her novels as “Pulse-pounding fun” (Philadelphia Inquirer), “Scary and brilliant” (Toronto Globe and Mail), and “Polished, riveting prose” (Chicago Tribune). Publishers Weekly has dubbed her the “medical suspense queen” and Time Magazine named her novel The Surgeon one of the best mystery/thriller novels ever written.

Her series of novels featuring homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles inspired the hit TNT television series "Rizzoli & Isles," starring Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander.

She is also a filmmaker. She and her son Josh produced a feature-length documentary, “Magnificent Beast,” about the ancient origins of the pig taboo. It aired on PBS channels around the country. Their previous film, “Island Zero”, was a feature-length horror movie that was released in 2018.

She lives in Maine.

Conference Programs & Schedule

The Conference Programming Subcommittee has a Program Preview document of accepted conference sessions. Please note: this document is not final. The programming committee is still in the process of reviewing program submissions that arrived in mid- to late February, notifying presenters and confirming schedules. This document will be edited periodically as the programming committee adds new sessions and makes changes to existing ones. 

A working schedule document will be available on our website in mid-April.

Lodging

Thomas College offers lodging in their residence halls starting at $45 per person, per night, with the option to rent bedding and towels. The Bartlett and Hindman residence halls are suite-style, with five or six bedrooms with one or two shared bathrooms and a common hallway space. They are air conditioned. Each floor has a lounge with a kitchenette, computer workstations, a large TV, and couch.  You may bring your own bedding and towel, or pay a small fee for theirs (see guest registration form for more information).

To stay on campus, fill out the Guest Registration Form. Any questions about Thomas College lodging will be best answered by Thomas College staff. Please use their contact information on the Guest Registration Form.

Discounts

Confirmed presenters will be sent a code to access the presenter rates for registration. If you are a confirmed presenter and have not received a code, contact Kelley Blue at conferenceprogramming@mainelibraries.org.

Due to the rising costs associated with the conference, the conference committee eliminated the early bird pricing rate in 2025 rather than raise conference rates for all registration categories. The previous student/retired/unemployed rate was financially unsustainable for the organization and it has been increased to reflect our costs. Conference grants are available for those with demonstrated financial need. Please see: https://mainelibraries.org/grants/ for more information and to apply.

Cancellation Policy

If you need to cancel your registration, you can cancel for a full refund through April 25th. No refunds will be given after that time. If you need to cancel, please email Michelle Scheier, our Association Administrator at mscheier@mainelibraries.org

Please direct all registration questions by email to Meg Gray: 
atlarge2@mainelibraries.org.