Millay House Rockland Writers-in-Residence 2026-2027

Millay House Rockland, in partnership with the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation, is proud to announce this year’s winners of the Writer-in-Residence program. This year, the contest was judged by esteemed poet Dorianne Laux who selected memoirist Vincent Van Dyke for October 2026, and poet Amy Lemmon for July 2027. Both winners will receive a month-long solo retreat housed in the historic Rockland home where Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay was born. 

Launched on Edna St. Vincent Millay’s birthday in February 2025, the juried residency competition received submissions of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, and journalism from across the country. We are grateful to our preliminary jury made up of members of Maine’s literary community (see details below), who selected 10 finalists from 100 strong applications, and to our final judge, esteemed poet Dorianne Laux, who selected two Writers-in-Residence.

Vincent Van Dyke lives in Northern New England with her partner, kids, and standoffish pet hedgehog. Her first book, Maiden, Mother, Unicorn, explores motherhood, queer identity, and the transition to nonmonogamy after a decade of “traditional” marriage.  

Judge Dorianne Laux says of Vincent’s writing: "Crafting essays into this memoir-in-progress, Vincent Van Dyke mixes genre beautifully and engages us fully in a woman's quest to define her sexuality. In Maiden, Mother, Unicorn, Van Dyke offers an honest exploration of being queer and bisexual, conforming to the societal expectations of a heterosexual marriage and motherhood for years, and then summoning the courage to redesign life into a shape that feels most truly her own.” 

Amy Lemmon is the author of Saint Nobody (Red Hen Press) and The Miracles (C&R Press) and coauthor, with Denise Duhamel, of the chapbooks ABBA: The Poems (Coconut Books) and Enjoy Hot or Iced: Poems in Conversation and a Conversation (Slapering Hol Press). Her poems and essays have appeared in The Best American Poetry, Rolling Stone, American Poetry Review, SWWIM Every Day, The Slowdown Podcast, and many other venues. Recipient of a Franklin Research Grant and fellowships from the Constance Saltonstall Foundation and Sewanee Writers’ Workshop, Amy is Professor of English at the Fashion Institute of Technology-SUNY. She lives in Astoria, Queens.

Judge Dorianne Laux says of Amy’s poetry: "I’ve chosen this poet as the winner, based partly on the variety of her forms, from the regular six-line stanza pattern in ‘Evening Call’ to the more lyrical free-verse of ‘Fracture Season’ to the strange list in ‘Dear Depositions’—others as well. I further admire the way she relies on the image to brighten the poems and carry their weight.”

Located at 198 Broadway in Rockland, Maine, the Millay House is a recently renovated duplex. Built in 1891, it was the birthplace of Edna St. Vincent Millay. The house includes a living/dining room, fully equipped kitchen, two bedrooms, a study, one and a half baths, a washer and dryer (shared use with the renter next door), WiFi, and off-street parking. A bicycle is available for your use. Food is not included but there are grocery and specialty stores nearby. If you aren’t driving here, we do recommend that you plan to rent a car to explore the area, pick up groceries, etc.

It is within easy walking distance of downtown Rockland, where you will find a vibrant array of art galleries and museums, restaurants and coffee shops, a public library and bookstores, the Harbor Trail, daily ferry service to the islands, as well as the weekly farmers market.

Location & Facilities

2026-2027 Millay House Rockland Writer-in-Residence Jurors

  • Allison Worden

    is the founder of Arctic Tern Books & Sanctuary in Rockland, Maine. A lifelong reader, an editor, a lover of language, and champion of authors, Allison believes ardently in the power of words. Pairing people with books that meet their emotional or practical need is one of her greatest joys. Seeing people connect over books, poems, or sentences they’ve loved, is one of her favorite pastimes. Reading poetry aloud is her go-to elixir. Arctic Tern Books and Sanctuary

  • Chelsea Jackson

    is a cross-genre writer, editor, and writing coach, and the author of the poetry collection All Things Holy and Heathen (April Gloaming). Chelsea believes in creativity as a catalyst for change and enjoys work that asks hard questions and makes readers think. Their work has been featured in Fatal Flaw, Coffin Bell Journal, and Beyond Queer Words, among other publications. Chelsea has an MFA in Poetry from Drew University and is the Co-Editor of The Maine Review.They live in Richmond, Virginia, with their partner and cuddly pitbull.

  • Lucia Graves

    is a writer and journalist based in Midcoast Maine, where she lives with her husband and daughter. She often writes about literature and place and the work of women she admires. Her essay “Almost There: Unexpected Thresholds of Revelation,” which appeared in the most recent issue of Millay House’s Third Fig Review, explores Millay and Dickinson and the landscapes — literal and interior — that shaped their writing. Her review of the latest biography of Elizabeth Cady Stanton is forthcoming in the spring issue of Smithsonian magazine. IG LuciaGraves

  • Mike Bove

    Mike’s fifth poetry collection, Mineralia, is forthcoming from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point. His debut novella, A Catalog of Imaginary Houses, is forthcoming from Split/Lip Press. He is a former writer-in-residence at Acadia National Park and the current Editor-in-Chief of Hole in the Head Review, a biannual poetry journal. Mike is Professor of English at Southern Maine Community College and lives in Portland. MikeBove.com

  • William Dameron

    is the author of The New York Times Editors’ Choice, The Lie: A Memoir of Two Marriages; Catfishing & Coming Out, and The Washington Post notable book, The Way Life Should Be. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Salon, The Huffington Post, Oprah Magazine and his essays have appeared in multiple anthologies. He is an IT Director for a global economic consulting firm, where he educates users on the perils of social engineering in cybersecurity. WilliamDameron.com

2026-2027 Judge Dorianne Laux

Dorianne Laux’s sixth collection, Only As the Day is Long: New and Selected Poems was named a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Her fifth collection, The Book of Men, was awarded The Paterson Prize. Her fourth book of poems, Facts About the Moon, won The Oregon Book Award and was short-listed for the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. Laux is also the author of Awake; What We Carry, a finalist for the National Book Critic’s Circle Award; Smoke; as well as a fine small press edition, The Book of Women. She is the co-author of the celebrated text  The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry. Her latest collection of poetry is Life On Earth and was released in January of 2024. Finger Exercises for Poets, a book of concise craft essays and exercises for poets was released in July 2024.