Adult Events

DAILY

The Book Cellar.  Visit our ongoing book sale Monday through Friday from 9:30 to 5:00 pm and Saturday 9:30-12:30 pm.  Titles change constantly.  At any time of the year, you can find best sellers in hardcover and paperback, non-fiction, biographies, audiobooks, videos, music CDs, puzzles, and much more.  We also have a “rare” books section.

Computer Assistance.  Stop by the Library if you need help with printing, scanning, emailing, etc.  We can help you with your technology challenges anytime during Library hours.

Walk-In Wireless. Free walk-in wireless access is available during regular hours. To use this service, you must have your own laptop, tablet, or mobile device.

Remote Work Space. Please call us to reserve our private meeting room for job interviews, quiet space, and virtual meetings.  (207-967-2778).

WEEKLY

Port Knitters.  This drop-in group meets every Wednesday from 1:00-3:00 pm in the Dow Room.  Bring your knitting projects, meet up with friends new and old, and share stories.  A delightful way to spend an afternoon at the Graves Library.

Senior Yoga.  This program is offered on a weekly basis in the Community Room.  New sessions start at the beginning of each month.  No fee, although a donation is suggested for the certified instructor (Mindy Muse). Maximum class size- 15. Please call the Circulation Desk to register and bring a Yoga mat if you have one.

Chess Club.  This drop-in group meets every Tuesday from 2:00-4:00 pm in the Dow Room.  Bring your boards, meet up with friends new and old, and share stories.

MONTHLY

Morning Book Discussion Group. This program meets on the second Thursday of every month at 9:45 am in the Dow Room. A variety of books are chosen and a schedule of upcoming books to be discussed is available at the Main Circulation Desk. New members are always welcome.

Evening Book Discussion Group. This program meets on the last Thursday of every month at 5:00 pm in the Business Center. A list for the following year is chosen in December.  Copies are available at the circulation desk.

On the Nightstand Book Group.  This group meets the first Saturday of every month at 9:00 am in the Dow Room.  Participants are encouraged to bring and book talk whatever book is currently on their nightstand.  Light refreshments are served.

PATSY BRAY MAHONEY LECTURE SERIES (Formerly Known as the Pasco Lecture Series) – MONTHLY

Library Director Mary-Lou Boucouvalas and former Board member Joshua Bodwell started the series in late 2006 to host an event once a month on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon at 2PM. We are proud to keep these free to the public, yet we pay all of our guest speakers a small honorarium. The series started in part by grants from Kennebunk Savings Bank and the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation. We now have new funding from the Mahoney Family Foundation – hence the name change starting in 2024. Patsy Bray Mahoney grew up in Moncton, New Brunswick where she was a talented tap dancer. She spent summers with her family in the quiet lobstering villages of Hopewell Cape and later, Murray Corner. Patsy graduated from Horton Academy and then went on to Acadia University in Nova Scotia.  Pasty was a loving mother and wife with a quiet, gentle disposition and a kind heart. She was a talented athlete and avid tennis player. She enjoyed hooking rugs, sewing quilts, needlepointing, gardening, bird watching and collecting antiques. She died of Alzheimers in 2020. Her husband Paul and family wanted to find a way to honor and remember Patsy. She loved living in Kennebunkport and visiting Graves Library.

Other authors we have hosted include award-winning Maine poets such Wesley McNair, Carl Little, Christopher Robinson, and Stuart Kestenbaum; the best-selling authors  Monica Wood and Lily King, Geoffrey Wolff, Gerry Boyle, David Jourdan, Lincoln Paine, Susan Conley; Martha White, Robert Keyes, Cathie Pelletier, Kate Flora, Elizabeth Brundage, Jaed Coffin, Rebecca Charles, Elizabeth Peavy, Simon Van Booy, Katherine Hall Page, Chris Morin, Colin Woodard, George Daughan, Barbara Kent Lawrence, Marjan Kamali, Susan Hannaford, Gigi Georges, Shannon Mullen, Bruce Coffin, Catherine Burns Rudalevige, Carolyn Chute and Ann Clark,  Jessica Shattuck, Irene Drago, Bill Roorbach, Sarah Braunstein, Shannon Butler, Jim Nichols, Emily Franklin, Paul Doiron; editor Anita Silvey, book designer Scott Magoon, as well as veritable giants of the literary world like Ann Hood, Ann Beattie; and Andre Dubus III. Some lectures have featured artists Eric Hopkins, Paul Bonneau, Marguerite Robichaux, Richard Dabrowski, Dewitt Hardy, and David Little; photographers Chris Becker, Cig Harvey, and Liam Crotty; short story author Lewis Robinson; and musician/storyteller Harvey Reid.  We have also had children’s authors/illustrators Maria Padian, Lyn Smith, Didi Cooper, Chris Van Dusen, Matt Tavares, Cynthia Lord, Lea Wait, Holly Ross, Melissa Sweet, Mitali Perkins and Jamie Hogan.

The event is always followed up with book sales and signings, light refreshments (made by our very own Graves Library Snack Team) and catching up with friends.

Annual Literary Fundraising Events have included Pulitzer Prize Winners Richard Russo, 2011; David McCullough (introduced by Barbara Bush) 2012; Joyce Butler, 2013; David Oshinsky 2014; Douglas Brinkley, 2015; Mark Updegrove, 2016; William Martin, 2017;  Nathaniel Philbrick, 2018; Marc Wortman 2019; Lisa Wingate (virtually) 2020; John Grisham (virtually) 2021; David Maraniss, 2022; David Baldacci, 2023, Paul Hendrickson, 2024, and Rick Atkinson, 2025.