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Author events in Kennebunkport

LOCAL AUTHOR FREDERICK BOYLE

Genealogy expert and Maine resident, Frederick Boyle will be at the Graves Library on Wednesday, June 12 at 6:00 p.m. to talk about his new book  Early Families of Kennebunkport, Maine. Copies of the book will be for sale after the presentation.

A bit about Fred:
He was a retired teacher after thirty years at Lexington (MA) High School, where he was designated a master teacher. In recent years, he returned to teaching classes at York Senior College both in the classroom and on Zoom. In 1985, he took what had been a hobby to a professional level becoming a genealogist with a wide spectrum of clients, also giving workshops at the Springvale Public Library. With a lifetime love of theater, he joined the Sanford Maine Stage Senior Theater in the early 2000s. His greatest role was that of Ebenezer Scrooge in the musical production of Scrooge with a Twist. At 91, he found himself emoting, singing, and even dancing. Cheers for living into the nineties and the chutzpah to take on some big challenges!

AUTHOR BARBARA WALSH

Maine Author Barbara Walsh

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Barbara Walsh will discuss her new book “Spencer: Boston’s Beloved Marathon Dog,” a story of hope, inspiration, and a dog who lit up the world with his love on Thursday, April 25, at 3:15 PM. With a heart as big as the Boston skyline, Spencer gained worldwide fame as the beloved Boston Marathon dog. For eight years, the golden retriever cheered for thousands of runners in the cold, freezing rain, even as he recovered from cancer. Spencer began rooting for Boston Marathon runners in 2015. At Mile 3, Spencer held his Boston Strong flags, inspiring athletes and fans to be brave and never give up. Honored as the marathon’s official race dog in 2022, Spencer grew so famous that runners lined up to hug and photograph their loyal fan.

 

The Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library is located at 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport. For further information, please call 967-2778 or visit our website at www.graveslibrary.org.

STARS FROM CORONA KITCHEN – LISA LUCAS and DEBRIANNA MANSINI – APRIL 21 @ 2:00 PM

A POP-UP VISIT WITH TELEVISION CELEBRITIES LISA LUCAS AND DEBRIANNA MANSINI

The Stars of Corona Kitchen (Lisa Lucas and Debrianna Mansini) will be here at Graves Library on Sunday, April 21 @ 2:00 PM.  These ladies know that good food and good stories are like a warm, healing hug.  Add seasoning with a dash of hilarious personal anecdotes, and the troubles of the day seem to fade.

Outspoken television pros Lisa Lucas and Debrianna Mansini shared their kitchens, hearts, anxieties, and good humor as they broadcast their culinary adventures during the pandemic lockdown and the dark days that followed.  In the process, they connected with a hungry audience that spans the globe.  In That Time We Ate Our Feelings : 150 Recipes for Comfort Food from the Heart, Lisa and Debrianna share their most beloved dishes along with never-before-shared creations and top-voted dishes by members of the Corona Kitchen community.  The result is a colorful and cathartic read with warming, judgment-free mouthwatering recipes that prove a good meal heals all.

This quirky, hands-on cookbook features original recipes for all means of the day, plus snacks, side dishes, cocktails and mocktails, and options for vegans, vegetarians, gluten-free, and dairy-free diets.  It is guaranteed to meet you where you are, no matter if you are stressed, sad, thriving, or nostalgic.  All you have to bring to the table is yourself!

Copies of the book will be available for sale and signing after the event. The Graves Library Snack Team will provide light refreshments. Please call the Library for more information on this event (207-967-2778).  Parking is available along Maine Street, the North Street Fire Station Parking Lot, and Consolidated School (Route 9).

The Graves Library is located at 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport, Maine. Please enter through the white door in the Parking Lot.

MAINE AUTHOR BRUCE ROBERT COFFIN – JUNE 15 @ 2:00 PM

THE PATSY BRAY MAHONEY LECTURE SERIES PRESENTS

Maine Author/Mystery Writer Bruce Robert Coffin will be here on Saturday, June 15 at 2:00 pm to read from his latest novel, The Cardinal’s Curse.  This is the second book in the Turner and Mosley Series.

An enigmatic invitation lures tech genius Avery Turner and thrill-seeker Carter Mosley away from their recent groundbreaking discovery of the General’s Gold, offering them a chance to join an expedition on the cutting edge of science. Drawn into the heart of Antarctica, they pursue a legendary shipwreck that is fabled to house the long-lost crown jewels of Norway. As they plunge into the quest, chilling tales of centuries-old curses and an unsolved murder emerge, hinting at connections more profound and perilous than they ever imagined.  With a stolen treasure worth millions at stake and the fate of the scientific expedition in question, Carter must complete the most dangerous dive of his life in the harshest conditions on the planet. As suspicious sabotage cripples their equipment and unforeseen dangers intensify, the duo depend on Avery’s innovative technology and their unwavering trust in each other. But amidst the ice, their gravest challenge might become determining friend from foe.

Bruce Robert Coffin is the award-winning author of the Detective Byron Mysteries. Former detective sergeant with more than twenty-seven years in law enforcement, he is the winner of Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion Awards for Best Procedural, and Best Investigator, and the Maine Literary Award for Best Crime Fiction Novel. Bruce was also a finalist for the Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel. His short fiction appears in a number of anthologies, including Best American Mystery Stories 2016. [Seven Rivers Publishing]

 

Copies of the books will also be available for sale and signing after the event.  Light refreshments will be provided by the Graves Library Snack Team.  Please call the Library for more information on this event and the rest of the series (967-2778).

Parking is available along Maine Street, the North Street Fire Station Parking Lot, and Consolidated School (Route 9).  The Graves Library is located at 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport, Maine.  Please enter through the white door in the Parking Lot.

 

CARL and DAVID LITTLE – THE ART OF PENOBSCOT BAY – MAY 18 @ 2:00 PM

THE PATSY BRAY MAHONEY LECTURE SERIES PRESENTS

We are thrilled to welcome back Carl Little and David Little to the Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library on Saturday, May 18 at 2:00 pm.  Their latest book published by Yarmouth-based Islandport Press reflects a true and beautiful representation of Maine’s Penobscot area.

For Art of Penobscot Bay, brothers David and Carl Little, well-known stewards of Maine art, have selected art and artists, from history and today, that celebrate the myriad of inlets, islands, coves, and peninsulas—the “nooks and corners” of the region. Above all, they sought out art infused with a remarkable representation of place by more than 120 artists who have embraced the area and its people. Art of Penobscot Bay includes artists from the 19th century through the 21st century, including Fitz Henry Lane, Waldo Peirce, Edward Hopper, William Zorach, John Marin, Emily Muir, Greta Van Campen, Alex Katz, Eric Hopkins, and Amy Peters Wood. Combined with text by the Little brothers, the art takes readers on a wondrous visual journey around, across, and through a breathtaking bay.

Born in New York City, Carl Little holds degrees from Dartmouth, Middlebury, and Columbia. Little is the author of more than 30 art books, including The Watercolors of John Singer Sargent, Edward Hopper’s New England, and Paintings of Maine. His book Eric Hopkins: Above and Beyond won the first John Cole Prize from the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance in 2012. Little writes for Art New England, Hyperallergic, Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors, The Working Waterfront, Island Journal, and Ornament. In 2021 the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation honored Little with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his art writing. He lives and writes on Mount Desert Island.

 

David Little is the author of Art of Katahdin, named a “Best of New England” book by the Boston Globe in 2013. He is a co-author with his brother Carl of Art of Acadia (2016) and Paintings of Portland (2018). In 2017 he took part in a national symposium at Colby College, “Valuing the Aesthetics of Nature: The Role of the Visual Artist in the American Conservation Movement.” Little holds an M.A. and M.F.A. in painting from the University of Iowa, attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (1981 and 1982), and has had residencies on Monhegan Island and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. He lives with his wife Mikki in Portland. Find more about David at www.davidlittleart.com.

 

Copies of the book will also be available for sale and signing after the event.  Light refreshments will be provided by the Graves Library Snack Team.  Please call the Library for more information on this event and the rest of the series (967-2778).

Parking is available along Maine Street, the North Street Fire Station Parking Lot, and Consolidated School (Route 9).  If the weather is bad, please check your local television stations for updates on our listings or send us an email to:  mlbgraves@gmail.com

We would also like to thank The Kennebunkport Resort Collection for being a sponsor of this event.  Your support of community non-profits is greatly appreciated!

MAINE AUTHOR GIGI GEORGES – MAY 11 @ 2:00 PM

THE PATSY BRAY MAHONEY LECTURE SERIES PRESENTS

We are so excited to invite celebrated author Gigi Georges to the Graves Library on Saturday, May 11 at 2:00 pm.

Ms. Georges turned to narrative non-fiction writing after an extensive career in politics, public service, and academia. A former White House Special Assistant to the President and U.S. Senate State Director, she has taught political science at Boston College, served as a Program Director for the Harvard Kennedy School, and been a Managing Director of The Glover Park Group—a leading national public affairs firm. Born and raised in Brooklyn, she lives with her husband and eleven-year-old daughter in New Hampshire and Downeast Maine.

Downeast honors the lives of five remarkable young women and, through them, the paths of young women across rural America. It shines a light, too often obscured, on the indispensable role contemporary rural women play in their communities.

Copies of the book will also be available for sale and signing after the event. The Graves Library Snack Team will provide light refreshments. Please call the Library for more information on this event and the rest of the series at 967-2778.

Parking is available along Maine Street, the North Street Fire Station Parking Lot, and Consolidated School (Route 9).

 

 

 

 

The Graves Library is located at 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport, Maine. Please enter through the white door in the Parking Lot.

REVEREND DR. RUSSELL J. LEVENSON, JR. (PRE-RECORDED)

If you missed this event originally held in June, 2023 at the Graves Library, we are pleased to offer it on our social media channels starting tonight at 7:00 pm.

Facebook

YouTube,     and

Local Television Station – 1301.

A big thanks to Michael Kelly for producing this show!

 

The Reverend Dr. Russell J. Levenson, Jr., and his wife Laura, live in Houston, Texas where he has served as Rector of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church since 2007. With nearly 10,000 members, St. Martin’s is the largest Episcopal Church in North America. Levenson co-officiated and offered a homily at the state funeral for President George H.W. Bush in Washington, D.C., and in Houston, and also officiated and preached at the funeral for First Lady Barbara Bush in Houston. President and Mrs. Bush belonged to and were active members of St. Martin’s for more than 50 years.

DAVID BALDACCI AT THE RIVER CLUB (PRE-RECORDED EVENT)

Graves Library – Annual Author Event held June 22, 2023 at the Kennebunk River Club.  Special Guest –  NYT Best-Selling Author David Baldacci.

If you missed this amazing program or would just like to see it again,  you can find it here :

Facebook,

YouTube, and

Kennebunkport Television station 1301.

 

A big thanks to Michael Kelly for producing this show!  Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport www.graveslibrary.org 967-2778

NEW ENGLAND AUTHOR – EMILY FRANKLIN – SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17 @ 2:00 PM

We are extremely excited that Emily Franklin has accepted our invitation to visit us at Graves Library on Sunday, September 17 at 2:00 p.m. in the Community Room.

Ms. Franklin is the author of more than twenty novels and a poetry collection, Tell Me How You Got Here. Her award-winning work has appeared in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Guernica, JAMA, and numerous literary magazines as well as long-listed for the London Sunday Times Short Story Award, featured and read aloud on NPR and named notable by the Association of Jewish Libraries. The Lioness of Boston (June 2023) is her latest novel.

A lifelong visitor to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Emily lives outside of Boston with her family including two dogs large enough to be lions.

 

 

“Franklin offers a vivid narrative of Isabella Stewart Gardner’s evolution into a pioneering art collector and museum founder. New Yorker Isabella marries wealthy Boston Brahmin Jack Gardner in 1860 at age 19. The straitlaced Jack appreciates his unpredictable wife’s intellect and creativity, though she gets a cold reception from Boston’s well-heeled matrons.

A year later, Isabella considers the “sad magic to being female, a disappearing of the self,” and hopes that motherhood will win her social acceptance and help provide the sense of purpose she craves.

Instead, her only child dies of pneumonia before he turns two, and a subsequent miscarriage leaves her unable to conceive again. During a lengthy stay in Europe, Jack hopes to ease her paralyzing grief. There, she meets Henry James, Oscar Wilde, and other luminaries who encourage her love of learning and passion for the arts. Isabella’s confidence deepens—and her reputation for eccentricity grows—as she begins to acquire artworks for the museum she opens in 1903.

The novel brims with pitch-perfect period details, such as Isabella’s ability to shock New England society merely by wearing blue shoes, and Franklin cannily captures Gardner’s ambition, independence, and quirks. Fans of strong female protagonists and Gilded Age historicals will enjoy this.”  [Publishers Weekly]

We are grateful to our Graves Library Snack Team for providing treats for our program. Doors open at 1:30. Parking is available at the Village Fire Station (North Street) and Consolidated School (School Street).  Copies of the Lioness of Boston will be for sale and signing after the program. Please call the Library for more information 967-2778.

NY TIMES BEST SELLING AUTHOR – JENNIFER ACKERMAN – AUGUST 6 @ 2:00 PM

We are delighted to have New York Times Best Selling Author Jennifer Ackerman visit with us on Sunday, August 6 at 2:00 pm for a special lecture.

Jennifer Ackerman has been writing about science, nature, and health for more than three decades. Her work aims to explain and interpret science for a lay audience and to explore the riddles of the natural world, blending scientific knowledge with strong storytelling. She has won numerous awards and fellowships, including a fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts, a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a Silver Medal Award for Nature Writing from the International Regional Magazine Association, and fellowships at the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College (now the Radcliffe Institute), Brown College at the University of Virginia, and the Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University.

Jennifer’s most recent book is What an Owl Knows: The new science of the world’s most enigmatic birds. In pre-publication reviews, Publisher’s Weekly called the book “a masterful survey,” and Kirkus, “fascinating food for thought for owl seekers.” Jennifer also recorded the audiobook for What an Owl Knows. Her previous book, The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think (Penguin Press, 2020; paperback, 2021), was a finalist for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award and was nominated for numerous other awards. It’s published in more than a dozen languages. Her New York Times bestseller, The Genius of Birds (Penguin Press, 2016; paperback 2017), has been translated into close to 30 languages. The book was named one of the 10 best nonfiction books of 2016 by The Wall Street Journal, a Best Science Book of 2016 by National Public Radio’s “Science Friday”, a Best Book of the Year by The Spectator and the National Post, and a Nature Book of the Year by the London Sunday Times. It was a finalist for the 2017 National Academies Communication Book Award and for the 2017 Smart Book Award in Poland.

Other books include Birds by the Shore: Observing the Natural Life of the Atlantic Coast (a 2019 reissue by Penguin Press of her first book, Notes from the Shore); Ah-Choo! The Uncommon Life of Your Common Cold (Twelve, 2010), which was named a finalist for the Books for a Better Life Award’; and Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream:  A Day in the Life of Your Body (Houghton Mifflin, 2007; Mariner Paperbacks, 2008), which explores the biological events we experience over the course of a day. The latter was selected as a New York Times “Editor’s Choice” and was chosen as a main selection for the Scientific American Book Club.  It has been published in 13 languages. Ackerman’s book Chance in the House of Fate:  A Natural History of Heredity (Houghton Mifflin 2001; Mariner Paperbacks 2002) was named a New York Times “New and Noteworthy” paperback and was selected as a Library Journal Best Book of the Year in 2002. She is the editor of The Curious Naturalist and the co-author with Dr. Miriam Nelson of The Social Network Diet and The Strong Women’s Guide to Total Health. 

Jennifer’s essays and articles have appeared in The New York Times, Scientific American, National Geographic, Natural History, Parade, and many other publications. She has written on subjects ranging from the work of Chuck Close to the microbiome of the human body, the evolutionary origin of birds, the sexual habits of dragonflies, the neural nature of dyslexia, the biology of cranes, parasites as agents of evolutionary change, ocean circulation, the wildlife of Japan, and the work of Nobel laureate and developmental biologist Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard. Her writing has been collected in several anthologies, among them, Flights of Imagination:  Extraordinary Writings About Birds, ed. Richard Canning (Greystone, 2010), The Penguin Book of the Ocean, ed. James Bradley (Penguin Australia, 2010), Best American Science Writing, ed. Alan Lightman (Perennial, 2005), Shorewords (University of Virginia Press, 2003), Stories from Where We Live—the North Atlantic Coast, ed. Sara St. Antoine (Milkweed, 2001), The Beach Book, ed. Aleda Shirley (Sarabande Books, 2000), The Seacoast Reader, ed. John A. Murray (Lyons Press, 1999), From the Field, ed Charles McCarry (National Geographic, 1997), The Nature Reader, ed. Daniel Halpern and Dan Frank (Ecco Press, 1996), and Best Nature Writing (Sierra Club books, 1996).

We are grateful to our Graves Library Snack Team for providing treats for our program.  We are also grateful to The 1802 House for sponsoring this event!  Doors open at 1:30.  Parking is available at the Village Fire Station (North Street) and Consolidated School (School Street).  Please call the Library for more information (967-2778).  Copies of the book will be for sale and signing after the program.

The Library is located at 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport, Maine.

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