I’m guessing that a lot of museums have fallen on hard times due to the current economic situation. The Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, Connecticut is one such museum. The building is a national historical landmark and quite remarkable. The writer is one of the great American authors, leaving a legacy that has touched most school children in this country at one time or the other (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Innocents Abroad, The Prince and the Pauper, etc.). If you go the ‘public’ catalog for Random House, Inc. you will find 54 titles listed for Mark Twain and 518 related pages.
He also continues to be a great influence upon writers who have taken his characters as their own and developed them in ways that would cause Twain to be greatly entertained. One such book is FINN written by Jon Clinch. FINN is a remarkable first novel, named by ALA as a Notable Book in 2007 and chosen as the winner of the Philadelphia Athenaeum Literacy Award. It was also short-listed for the Sargent First Novel Prize.
Anyone having read FINN will never forget it and will realize the debt Jon Clinch owes to Mark Twain. Feeling this debt himself, or perhaps more aptly put, feeling a great admiration, Jon Clinch has determined to do his part to aid the Mark Twain House & Museum, and so has organized an evening called “The Adventures Started Here – Writers Reading For Twain,” which takes place Tuesday, September 23rd at the Museum.
351 Farmington Ave.
Hartford, CT 06105
6 – 7 p.m. Reception
7 – 9 p.m. Readings
9 – 9:30 p.m. Book Signings
Admission: $40 – Reading and Book Signing
$100 – Reception, reading and book Signing
For reservations call 860-280-3152
For information and complete author lineup: info@marktwainhouse.org or go here.
Authors in addition to Jon Clinch include: Tasha Alexander, Phillip Beard, Andy Carroll, David Gates, Robert Hicks, Phillip Lopate, Amy MacKinnon, Stewart O’Nan, Tom Perrotta, Arthur Phillips. Anyone within a reasonable distance will find themselves highly entertained. And if you’re in Kansas and not planning to vacation in CT at that moment, send a check!
-Marcia