“Weekend with a Writer” is a collaborative effort between the Friends of the Essex Public Library and the Essex Inn to bring residents and visitors together with noted authors to share their love for literature.  


Melodie Pogue, Innkeeper at The Essex Inn, is an avid reader and bed-and-breakfast traveler.  She often wished for the opportunity to stay at an inn and “hang out” with her favorite authors. This idea became a vision to create a program that would bring authors to her bed-and-breakfast so that her guests could share her dream of spending time with the writers she admired.

In working with Hannah Overton, President of the Friends of the Essex County Library Group and Besse Haile, Librarian of the Essex County Library, that dream not only became a reality but expanded into a program that became a partnership between the business community, the library and the educational community.

Over the course of a weekend, residents and students of the community and area visitors have several opportunities to meet with the selected author in an intimate setting with an extended time frame in which they can discuss the authors' works and the nuances of writing and publishing. Authors benefit from the opportunity to promote themselves and their books through personal interaction. The program helps to raise funds for the Library and promotes literacy and writing within the schools.

For more information about this program please contact us at info@WeekendWithAWriter.com.