PUBLISHING

"Our voices deserve to be heard. They also need to be. No one knows us better than we know ourselves, and we can write and share our own stories." 
- Siri Pierce, 16, Telling Room Author

The Telling Room is a leader in youth publishing, an emerging niche of the publishing industry and a unique and inspiring model in the field of literary arts education and creative youth development. We produce carefully edited, beautifully designed, and locally printed books of our students’ stories, poems, and personal narratives. In our first 20 years, we have published over 5,000 authors. And, since the printing of our first book in 2007, I Remember Warm Rain, we have published more than 200 titles.

We have pioneered several innovative publication projects with young writers across Maine, and reach youth ages 6-18 from around the world through our online publication, Stories. Our publications and events support The Telling Room's suite of youth writing programs and send youth voices out to audiences across Maine, the U.S., and around the world. Currently, we publish between 15-20 titles a year. 

Our young authors have created a buzz as their stories travel far outside their homes in Maine: they have appeared in many newspapers and magazines (including Poets & Writers, Fast Company, and the Boston Globe), on television and radio programs, and at renowned literary events, educational conferences, and have garnered attention at regional and national award ceremonies, such as the Maine Literary Awards and Scholastic's National Arts & Writing Awards.

Two authors, Richard Akera and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Richard Russo, talk about their writing lives, following the publication of their Telling Room book, The Story I Want to Tell:

YOUTH WRITERS OF MAINE

We are always looking for writing by Maine youth, ages 6-18, to share with the world. This organization was founded by three Maine authors, Susan Conley, Sara Corbett, Michael Paterniti, who believed that Maine kids had stories to tell that were as valuable as their own. Because of this foundational belief, and our location in Maine, we prioritize the voices of Maine’s youth in our writing programs and publications. 

Youth ages 6-18 who live in Maine are welcome to join our writing programs, and their writing may then be published in a book! In our core programs, students go beyond their writing work and get involved in the publishing process, from drafting, to revising, designing, and presenting their work in bound books to a public audience. Each of these programs makes publishing a goal from the get-go, and ensures that students will leave the program with a book in their hands, one that they feel they had a big stake in helping to create.