Maine's Book Event: A Real Page Turner

Locale: Nearly all festival events take place in Camden's Opera House, a restored 1894 three-story brick structure in the center of town, within walking distance of inns, restaurants and shops. Camden is a quintessential New England village, complete with church spires and village green, 70 miles north of Portland on Penobscot Bay. In early November, recreational boating is over for the season, but hiking trails abound in the hills that hover just to the west of town.

Famous literary landmark: The statue of Camden poet Edna St. Vincent Millay in Harbor Park overlooks the bay. If you hike to the top of Mount Battie, which rises above the town, you'll stand in the same place and admire the same view that the poet did in 1912, when she wrote her famous poem "Renascence," which begins: "All I could see from where I stood was three long mountains and a wood. I turned and looked another way and saw three islands in a bay."

Cost runs from $50 for Friday night's lecture and gala reception to $125 for the entire weekend. Maximum attendance: 400. Details: 207-837-2827,http://www.maineliteraryfestival.com. Camden-Rockport-Lincolnville Chamber of Congress: 800-223-5459,http://www.camdenme.org.

· Key West Literary Seminar, Key West, Fla., Jan. 10-13, 2008.

Program: Now in its 26th year, the seminar continues to sell out a year in advance, its popularity a tribute to the conference's uniqueness, according to executive director Miles Friedman. "This is a reader's, not a writer's, conference, a celebration of literature, where people actually get to spend time with authors because the event is so small," says Friedman. (Four days of writing workshops -- small groups of no more than 10 people who work closely with a particular writer -- precede the seminar.) Festival-goers immerse themselves in readings, lectures, conversations and panel discussions, delivered by some of the most acclaimed writers of our time, mingling informally throughout the day and at lively parties at night. The seminar is now accepting reservations for 2008; writers expected to attend include Judy Blume, Annie Dillard, Zadie Smith, Lee Smith and Billy Collins. "Established writers are going to introduce new writers, crossing genres and generations" as they each talk about what it was like getting started, Friedman says.

Locale: The tiny 2-by-4-mile tropical island is the southernmost city in the continental United States. Key West's rich literary heritage as the home and gathering spot for writers, from Ernest Hemingway to Annie Dillard, means that seminar participants experience the true, untouristy Key West. Most seminar events take place at the historic San Carlos Institute, honoring Cuba's cultural heritage, with receptions and parties at the Audubon House, Kent Gallery, Custom House Museum and Key West Lighthouse.

Famous literary landmark: The most famous is Hemingway's House (907 Whitehead St., 305-294-1136), where the writer lived for eight of his 12 years on Key West and produced some of his best works, including "To Have and Have Not."

Cost: $450 for the seminar and $450 for individual writing workshops preceding the festival, or $850 for seminar and workshops. Maximum attendance: 400. Details: 888-293-9291,http://www.keywestliterary http:// http://seminar.org. Key West Chamber of Commerce: 305-294-2587,http://www.keywestchamber.org.

· National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Elko, Nev., Jan. 27-Feb. 3.

Program: Although other cowboy poetry festivals exist, this is the original, and the only official "national" gathering, so deemed by Congress in 2000. The 2007 gathering is the 23rd celebration, a grand melange of exhibits, workshops, poetry readings, musical performances, dancing and discussions. "Cowboy poetry is an old tradition dating from the 1850s and 1860s, when cowboys would entertain each other around the campfire, reciting their own poetry," says Darcy Minter, director of communications for the Western Folklife Center, which organizes the festival. Organizers knew they were on to something at the first gathering in 1985 when 1,000 spectators showed up to an event expected to draw only about 60 people. Since then, the gathering has evolved into an eight-day extravaganza during which more than 70 performers take to stages throughout the town of Elko. Highlights this year include music and verse of the gathering's special guests: French cowboys, known as "gardians," who still work cattle on horseback in the Camargue region of France.

Locale: Elko is about 300 miles east of Reno and 230 miles west of Salt Lake City in northeastern Nevada. This is wide-open ranch country, with the 11,000-foot-high Ruby Mountains framing the town. Casinos and brothels are legal, and Elko has a number of both. In late January and early February, "the weather ain't pretty," admits Minter, but it's the best time of year for ranchers to participate. Events take place primarily in the headquarters of the Western Folklife Center and in the Elko Convention Center.

Famous literary landmark: No single landmark, but the town itself qualifies, as the place where the genre of cowboy poetry came into its own.

Events require tickets or passes. A three-day pass is $41 ($51 if purchased after Dec. 21). Prime days: Feb. 1-3. Anticipated attendance: 8,000. Details: 888-880-5885,http://www.westernfolklife.org. Elko Convention and Visitors Authority: 800-248-3556,http://www.elkocva.com.

Elise Hartman Ford last wrote for Travel about renting apartments abroad.