KEN BURNS – JULY 30
Ken Burns, with interviewer Rob Caldwell, July 30
Photo credit: Stephanie Berger
ICONIC FILMMAKER KEN BURNS WILL DISCUSS HIS AWARD-WINNING WORK AND THE STATE OF THE NATION ON ITS 250th ANNIVERSARY WITH TV NEWS ANCHOR ROB CALDWELL AT GRAVES LIBRARY’S DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER EVENT AT KBH AUDITORIUM ON JULY 30
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Celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary with this rare opportunity to experience American icon and treasured storyteller Ken Burns at 6 p.m. on July 30 at Kennebunk High School. From his groundbreaking documentary The Civil War to his most recent release The American Revolution, Burns has captured the imagination of an entire nation for nearly five decades.
Burns will be interviewed by Rob Caldwell, one of Maine’s premier TV news anchors. Prior to the event, The Seatones, a popular group of 16 Southern Maine singers from Seaglass Performing Arts, will perform a musical prelude of patriotic songs.
Hosted by the Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library, this special appearance is part of the library’s Distinguished Speaker Series, annual fundraising events featuring nationally recognized authors and speakers. All proceeds from ticket sales and event sponsorships support the library’s essential programs and services.
Ken Burns has been making documentary films for almost 50 years. Since the Academy Award nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, Burns has gone on to direct some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made, including The Civil War, Baseball; Jazz, The War, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, Prohibition; The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, The Vietnam War, Country Music, The U.S. and the Holocaust, The American Buffalo, Leonardo da Vinci, and The American Revolution, which aired on PBS in November, 2025.
Burns’ films have been honored with dozens of major awards, including 17 Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, and two Oscar nominations. In September of 2008, at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards, he was honored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In November of 2022, Burns was inducted in the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
The Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library, housed in an historic 19th century building located near Kennebunkport’s famous Dock Square town center, is a full-service free library whose mission is “to enrich the lives of all we serve.” A nonprofit organization, Graves Library receives 60 percent of its operating budget from donations and other fundraising sources.
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Thank you sponsors, Spinnaker Trust, Kennebunk Savings, Bergen Parkinson Attorneys, Colony Hotel, Louise Hurlbutt, Octopus Books and Edison Press.
