Monica Wood, writer
MONICA WOOD is a novelist, memoirist, and playwright; the 2024 recipient of the Sara Josepha Hale award for excellence in New England literary arts; the 2019 recipient of the Maine Humanities Council Carlson Prize for contributions to the public humanities; and the 2016 recipient of the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance Distinguished Achievement Award for contributions to the literary arts. She lives in Portland, Maine, with her husband, Dan Abbott, and their cat, Susie.
FICTION and MEMOIR:
Monica's new novel, How to Read a Book, is out now. Her most recent novel, 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, Oprah magazine summer-reading pick, and winner of the May Sarton Memoir Award and the Maine Literary Award. Her novel Any Bitter Thing was an ABA bestseller and Book Sense Top Ten pick. Her other fiction includes Ernie’s Ark, which has been excerpted on NPR's "Selected Shorts" and selected by several towns and cities as their "One Book, One Community" read; My Only Story, a finalist for the Kate Chopin Award; and Secret Language, her first novel.
STORIES and ARTICLES:
Her widely anthologized short stories have won a Pushcart Prize and been featured on public radio. She also writes books for writers and teachers. Her nonfiction has appeared in Oprah, New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, Parade, and many other publications.
PLAYS:
In 2015 her first play, Papermaker, debuted in an extended run at Portland Stage in Portland, Maine, setting the theater’s all-time attendance record and enjoying successful runs at other regional theaters, including Shadowland Stages in Ellenville, NY, and Chenango River theatre in Greene, NY. Her second play, The Half-Light, recently debuted at Portland Stage, its second bestselling show ever. She just finished a successful debut run of her latest play, Saint Dad.
