Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Tracy Kidder traveled to the Camden Opera House in 2007 to give a talk about what it’s like to write for a living. He took questions from the would-be writers in the audience and signed some books.
Kidder, who had a summer home in the Midcoast town of South Bristol, died in Boston on Tuesday at the age of 80, according to The Boston Globe. The Globe reported that he died just weeks after becoming very ill.
His 1981 book “The Soul of a New Machine,” about computer development, won both the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award.
In writing more than a dozen books, Kidder’s literary journalism helped expand the idea of what nonfiction books could be. During the time he spent in Maine, he often shared his insights on journalism and writing with his neighbors.
At the Camden Opera House event, he discussed his books and his craft with fellow Maine author Richard Russo. Also in 2007, Kidder attended the Capitol Read event at the Augusta Civic Center and signed books and chatted with readers. His book “Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World” was the event’s featured book.
In 2004 and 2005, he gave talks about the book at the Camden Opera House, at St. Andrew’s Church in Newcastle and at the University of Southern Maine in Portland. The Portland event was a fundraiser for Konbit Sante Cap-Haitien Health Partnership, a international health organization based in Maine.
In 2005, Kidder gave an interview to The Associated Press about his memoir of his time in Vietnam, “My Detachtment,” from his home overlooking a cove in South Bristol.
That year he also attended a fundraising event for the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance at the home of fellow Pulitzer-winner Richard Ford. Russo, another Pulitzer winner, was also present, along with best-selling authors Tess Gerritsen and Monica Wood.