The Telling Room’s 2026 Young Emerging Authors Book Launch

Join The Telling Room’s 2026 Young Emerging Authors Fellows as they celebrate their book launch at SPACE.

Authors Anna Grey Bergstrom, E.C. Jay, Len Harrison, and Lily Jessen took part in a 15-month fellowship with The Telling Room to write, revise, and publish their books with support from professional authors and writing mentors. 

These forthcoming books include a novel in verse from the perspective of five Shakespearean women, as well as poetry collections that explore the experiences of growing up with a chronic illness, a profound semester in the woods of Vermont, and the power of creativity to sustain a young person during a period of incarceration. Join  The Telling Room’s authors for an evening of poetry as we celebrate these promising young voices in Maine’s literary community.

This event is free and open to the public, with books available for purchase.

About the Authors

Len Sienko Harrison wrote Universal Language as a senior at the Waynflete School in Portland, Maine. A lifelong coastal Mainer, Len discovered their love for the mountains of Vermont at a semester away program called The Mountain School of Milton Academy during the fall of their junior year. This debut collection of poetry serves as an attempt to capture that experience in words. In the fall, Len will attend Reed College, where he intends to continue his studies of ecology and language. When not writing, he can be found reading science fiction novels or exploring Maine’s woods and waters.

E.C. Jay is a formerly incarcerated poet and recent high school graduate originally from Bridgton, Maine. He recently found a passion for writing and is using it to navigate his process of self-discovery. Beyond writing, he enjoys being outdoors and traveling the world, especially to Spain. He would like his debut book of poetry, written through The Telling Room’s Young Emerging Authors program, to inspire others, especially other youth impacted by the corrections system. 

Anna Grey Bergstrom wrote Soft Bird That I Am in her junior year of high school. Diagnosed with a rare autoinflammatory disease at age eight, and an avid reader, she has found books about everything from dragon riders to ghost ships, but seldom including those who are chronically ill. She finally decided to write some herself. In her spare time, Anna can be found rereading books that make her cry, fly-fishing, making art, and hopefully not capsizing the boat while sailing with her sister—wait, did you just jinx it? No matter, she can swim.

Lily Jessen is an author and actor from Cape Elizabeth, Maine. She wrote The Play’s the Thing primarily during her senior year of high school. She is also the author of the novel The Pipe Tree (2024) and the winner of The Telling Room’s Statewide Writing Contest. When she isn’t fanatically planning her next book or memorizing lines, you can find her singing musical theater karaoke, needle-felting animals, or curled up watching a murder mystery.