LEWISTON – Acclaimed Maine author Will Anderson will be speaking at the Lewiston Public Library at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 10, as part of the Two Books/Two Cities: One Celebration of Reading! festival.

The program will take place in the Teen Room on the second floor. It is free and open to the public.

Anderson is the author of “Lost Diners and Roadside Restaurants of New England and New York” and 12 other titles on Maine and American pop culture. He will be talking about his ‘Lost Diners’ book and will be selling and autographing copies following his presentation.

The author’s knowledge and interest in diners provides the connection to the Two Books reading event that is being sponsored by the Lewiston and Auburn public libraries. The book being featured this month is “Empire Falls” by Richard Russo, and much of the book’s action takes place in and around a diner in a fictional Maine town.

Anderson’s interests are wide-ranging and his books cover a variety of topics from baseball to beer and automobiles. Many of his titles focus on Maine’s connection to the subject under consideration. He believes that Maine’s old-time diners and roadside restaurants have enriched our lives, spiritually as well as nutritionally.

The book “Empire Falls” is the story of a Maine mill town without a working mill, and the people who frequent the town’s most popular eatery, the Empire Grill.

Miles Roby, who runs the Grill, is trying to make sense of his disintegrating life that involves the antics of his ex-wife and her new lover, his teenage daughter, and his conniving, retired father. Richard Russo won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for this title, which realistically captures a wide range of misfits and colorful characters in this incisive look at small-town America.

The Two Books celebration is co-sponsored by the Auburn and Lewiston public libraries, Auburn and Lewiston adult education departments, Literacy Volunteers, Mr. Paperback, the Sun Journal and WCNN 1240 Radio.

For more information on the Two Books events, call the Lewiston Public Library at 784-0135.