Woods presents “When We Were the Kennedys” at Bates

LEWISTON — Award-winning Maine author Monica Wood spoke Monday night to a crowd at Bates College about her newest work, “When We Were the Kennedys: A Memoir from Mexico, Maine.”

Winner of the May Sarton Women’s Memoir Award for best women’s memoir published in the U.S. and Canada, “When We Were the Kennedys” looks at Wood’s family from 1963 to 1964 when, as a child, she faced the death of her father, the assassination of John F. Kennedy and a long labor strike at the Oxford Mill.

Other awards the book has received include the Maine Literary Award in the memoir category and runner-up for the 2012 New England Book Festival Award in autobiography. The work has also been included in Oprah Magazine’s summer reading list.

Wood received a glowing introduction from Bates President Clayton Spencer who, among the book’s many accolades, listed it as a mandatory read for first-year students.

“Monica, we celebrate your grace, your grit and reverence in telling your story,” Spencer said of the book, describing it as one worthy of “profound reflection and our deepest gratitude.”

Wood began her presentation by describing a trip to Ireland that her husband, Dan, had arranged for them — one she was reluctant to take.

Despite her Irish heritage, she told him, “I’ve always felt kinda French.”

On the last night of the trip, Wood said they stopped at a large pub in Ennis, where an older gentleman engaged her in a conversation, trying to find commonalities between Ireland and the states. According to Wood, this was a common topic of conversation throughout her trip.

The gentleman, whom she later described as the “self-appointed mayor of music” in Ennis, eventually talked the couple into singing for the whole pub.

Throughout her experiences that night in the pub, Woods said she remembered her father telling stories in his own, lilting accent.

“It just made perfect sense to me,” she said, “that line from one place to another.”

After that, Wood said she thought to herself, “France, shmance — these are my people.”

She explained to the audience that family stories are about heritage — not necessarily by blood, but by rituals, traditions, holidays and expressions.

Wood told the crowd that her latest book was one which she “backed into,” beginning as an essay which was requested by Maine Poet Laureate Wesley McNair for an anthology. She said McNair wanted a piece from “rural, inland, industrial Maine.”

When she politely attempted to turn McNair down, he simply replied, “I understand completely — and I need it in two weeks.”

Wood said she picked up the project in earnest two years later when she was low on material and inspiration, taking up the challenge of a complete memoir.

She told of her first draft and the review her sister, Cathy, gave it after a prolonged silence.

“I’m in this and I don’t even think this is interesting,” her sister had said.

Wood described her struggle to allow herself to write about her family as she would a fictional character, breaking away from a journalistic, facts-only style. In a time when authors like James Frey were being called out for contrived memoirs, Wood said the prospect made her nervous.

Using what she called, “braiding,” Wood read excerpts from her childhood, intermingling children’s language with an adult sensibility.

Wood described choir practice with the nuns of St. Theresa Catholic School while dealing with the loss of her father. She noted how odd it was that she and her sister felt relief that the horrible news that day was just the death of J.F.K. — not their mother.

Throughout the past 15 months of touring, Wood described the commonality the little mill town of Mexico shares with the rest of the country, especially those areas where towns built on industry have felt the loss.

She refers to the many letters and messages she has received from all across the country since the book release as a “litany of loss.”

Even within Maine, she said it’s been gratifying to introduce one part of Maine to the other — the rural industrial to the coastal.

Wood’s advice to prospective family writers? She said writers should write deep, not broad, focusing on a season or specific point in life as opposed to covering a whole lifespan.

Wood describes herself as disciplined in her writing, working from her studio in her Portland backyard as it it were a typical 9-to-5 job.

She tells other writers not to become overwhelmed by the enormity of the task, but rather to do your Monday work on Monday and your Tuesday work on Tuesday.

After five novels, three books for teachers and three guides for writers, Wood’s next project is reaching to challenge herself as a playwright.

dmcintire@sunjournal.com