Menu

Author Talks in Kennebunkport

MAINE MYSTERY WRITER RICHARD CASS

Maine Mystery Writer Richard Cass

As part of the Patsy Bray Mahoney Lecture Series, we are pleased to welcome author Richard Cass to the Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library on Friday, November 13, at 2:30 PM. Mr. Cass will discuss his series about a disaffected Army veteran who works as a surveyor and mapmaker in rural Maine: “The Last Altruist” and “Hard as a Headstone.” He has also published the seven-book Elder Darrow jazz mystery series, set in Boston. Cass’s books have won the Maine Literary Award and the Nancy Pearl Prize for Genre Fiction. Learn more at www.richardjcass.com.

“Hard as a Headstone” – “The dead don’t lie. The living do. Former Army CID investigator Ardmore Theberge just wanted to complete his assignment: a routine land survey. But when he discovers a young woman murdered in a historic Maine graveyard—her skull crushed by blunt-force trauma—routine goes out the window. The victim, Janey Nightingale, was part of an activist group fighting to stop a bottled water company from relocating the cemetery. The authorities seem in no hurry to solve the case. But when Ardmore’s friend Millicent Feathernight implores him to look into what appears to be a crime against a fellow Native American woman, he can’t say no. In the unorganized town of Platen, everyone has secrets and everyone has an agenda. When the victim’s identity proves to be as false as the town’s promises of cooperation, Ardmore realizes he’s stumbled into something far more dangerous than a simple murder. Especially when he becomes the prime suspect. Now Ardmore must use every skill from his mysterious military past to clear his name and expose a killer—before he becomes the graveyard’s next permanent resident.” Islandportpress.com

Parking is available at the library, on the street, with overflow at Village Fire Station (North Street). Copies of the books will be available for purchase and signing after the program. The Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library is located at 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport. For further information, please call 207-967-2778 or visit our website at graveslibrary.org.

“KITTYBUNKPORT” WITH AUTHOR SCOTT ROTHMAN – Registration required

“Kittybunkport” Christmas with Author Scott Rothman, 9:30 a.m. or 11:30 a.m. Registration Required

Reading of “Kittybunkport” by best-selling author Scott Rothman. Books will be available for sale and signing. Registration required, please call 207-967-2778 to register for the 9:30 or 11:30 storytime. Seating is limited. Free event!

SCOTT ROTHMAN is a writer of picture books, screenplays, theater, and humor pieces. Scott’s debut picture book ATTACK OF THE UNDERWEAR DRAGON (Random House) and its sequel RETURN OF THE UNDERWEAR DRAGON were both National Indie bestsellers and are being developed into a musical kids TV series by Mercury Filmworks with best-selling illustrator Pete Oswald and Tony-award winning composer Bill Sherman. 

His most recent book KITTYBUNKPORT was featured on the TODAY SHOW and was selected by Jenna Bush Hager for her Summer Reading List. Scott’s book WARM AND FUZZY (Tundra, illustrated by Brian Won) received a starred review from Booklist who called it a “fun and helpful read about overcoming anxieties.”

Scott’s other kid’s books include the Virginia Readers’ Choice finalist BLUE BISON NEEDS A HAIRCUT and BUBBLE GUM BISON NEEDS A BATH (Random House, both illustrated by Pete Oswald), PARFAIT, NOT PARFAIT (Roaring Brook Press, illustrated by Avery Monsen), MAKO & TIGER: A SHARK’S TALE (Random House, illustrated by Mika Song) and BASKETBALL TOWN (Candlewick Press, illustrated by Darnell Johnson). He has six more books coming out in 2026. 

A screenplay Scott co-wrote with playwright Rajiv Joseph, DRAFT DAY, topped the 2012 Black List before being made into a feature film directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Kevin Costner. In addition, Scott co-wrote the script for the comedy ARMY OF ONE starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Larry Charles. 

Scott also wrote the book for the one-person musical TODD VS. THE TITANIC (music and lyrics by Murder for Two’s Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair) which was produced by the Adirondack Theatre Festival and the Hangar Theatre.

Scott’s humor writing has appeared in The New Yorker, GQ and McSweeney’s. He received an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU. – scottrothmanwriter.com

Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library, 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport.

LOCAL AUTHOR – ALBERT WAITT – THURSDAY, JUNE 5 @ 6:00 PM

We are so thrilled to welcome back local author and friend of Graves Library Albert Waitt on Thursday, June 5 @ 6:00 pm.  Mr. Waitt will be reading from his new book Springbrookville, the third in his LT Nichols mystery series.  Copies of the book will be for sale and signing after the reading.

 

The first in the series, The Ruins of Woodman’s Village, was published in 2023, followed by Flood Tide in 2024.  Waitt is a graduate of Bates College and the Creative Writing Program at Boston University.  His short fiction has appeared in The Literary Review, Third Coast, The Beloit Fiction Journal, Words and Images, and other publications.  His first novel, Summer to Fall was published in 2013 by Barrel Fire Press.

 

The Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library is at 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport. For further information, please call 207-967-2778 or visit our website at www.graveslibrary.org.

 

RICHARD RUSSO AND TOM PERROTTA @ VINEGAR HILL – OCTOBER 16 @ 5 PM

RICHARD RUSSO AND TOM PERROTTA

 

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2024

Vinegar Hill Music Theater, 53 Old Post Road, Arundel

Reserved seat admission ticket is $50-$60 

PURCHASE TICKETS NOW

 

 

 

A (cash bar) cocktail hour and book sales will start at 5 PM followed by an intimate conversation with award-winning authors at 6:30 pm. 

Graves Library is thrilled to welcome acclaimed author Richard Russo back to the Vinegar Hill stage. He will be joined by bestselling author Tom Perrotta for an evening of lively conversation on October 16 at 5:00 PM. Reserved seating tickets are on sale now at vinhillmusic.com for $50-$60.

Join us for food and drinks before the show in the outdoor garden prior to the event.

The night’s food truck is Vintage Dogs – featuring a spread of specialty hot dogs (including vegan ones!), sandwiches, and fries!

Print: A Bookstore will be selling a variety of the authors’ works during the first hour of the event.

Book signing with authors following the event.

Tom Perrotta is the bestselling author of ten works of fiction, including “Election” and “Little Children”, both of which were made into Oscar-nominated films, and “The Leftovers” and “Mrs. Fletcher”, which were adapted into critically acclaimed HBO series. His other books include “Bad Haircut”, “The Wishbones”, “Joe College”, “The Abstinence Teacher”, “Nine Inches”, and his newest, “Tracy Flick Can’t Win”. Perrotta lives outside Boston.

Richard Russo is the author of ten acclaimed novels, including “Everybody’s Fool” and “That Old Cape Magic”; two collections of stories; and the memoir “Elsewhere”. In 2002, he received the Pulitzer Prize for “Empire Falls”, which, like “Nobody’s Fool”, was adapted into a multiple-award-winning miniseries; in 2017, he received France’s Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine. His novel, “Somebody’s Fool” was released in July 2023.

Graves Memorial Library thanks Vinegar Hill Music Theatre for their continued generosity in sponsoring this event.

Vinegar Hill Music Theatre is located at: 53 Old Post Road, Arundel, Maine 04046, Tel: 207-985-5552.  The proceeds of all tickets sold benefit the Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library.

PURCHASE TICKETS

AUTHOR VISIT WITH ALBERT WAITT – THURSDAY, MAY 23 @ 6:00 PM

MAINE AUTHOR ALBERT WAITT – MAY 23 AT 6:00 PM

Local Author and friend to Graves Library Albert Waitt will be here on Thursday, May 23 at 6:00 pm to read from the second book in the LT Nichols Mystery Series.  Newly published Flood Tide is an incredible work of fiction about what happens when a body washes up on the shore of a harbor island and what LT Nichols, Maine’s Chief of Police will do about it!

 

 

Mr. Waitt will bring copies of the book to sell and sign after his reading. 

 

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

 

AN EVENING WITH AMERICAN AUTHOR, JOURNALIST, AND PROFESSOR PAUL HENDRICKSON – JUNE 20 @ 5:00 PM

Author Paul Hendrickson

We are thrilled to welcome celebrated author Paul Hendrickson to our 13th annual Author Event on June 20 at 5:00 PM at the historic Kennebunk River Club Casino, 116 Ocean Avenue in Kennebunkport. Purchase tickets online at Eventbrite.

Paul Hendrickson is an American author, journalist, and professor. His eighth book, Fighting the Night, will be published on May 7, 2024. It is an account of his father flying Black Widow night fighters on Iwo Jima in the last part of World War II. The book will come out on the twenty-first anniversary of his father’s death.

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE!

He is the author of the 2011 New York Times best seller and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist Hemingway’s Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost. For the 2004 book Bound for Glory: America in Color 1939-43, Hendrickson wrote the introduction and accompanying text. In 2003, he won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Sons of Mississippi: A Story of Race and Its Legacy. His 1996 work about Vietnam, The Living and the Dead: Robert McNamara and Five Lives of a Lost War, was a finalist for the National Book Award. He is the recipient of writing fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Lyndhurst Foundation, and the Alicia Patterson Foundation. Before joining the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, Hendrickson was a staff feature writer at the Washington Post from 1977 to 2001.

Hendrickson was born in California but grew up in the Midwest and in a Catholic seminary in the Deep South, where he studied for seven years for the missionary priesthood. This became the subject of his first book, published in 1983: Seminary: A Search. He is also the author of Looking for the Light: The Hidden Life and Art of Marion Post Wolcott, a finalist for the 1992 National Book Critics Circle Award.

In 2009, Hendrickson was a joint visiting professor of documentary practice at Duke University and of American studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Hendrickson has degrees in English from St. Louis University and Pennsylvania State University. He is married and has two grown sons and lives with his wife, Cecilia, outside Philadelphia.

“We are honored to have Mr. Hendrickson join us this year,” said Graves Library Executive Director Mary-Lou Boucouvalas. “We are also extremely grateful for the wonderful community support provided by our event sponsors. One hundred percent of the funds raised will support the ongoing operations of the Library.”

This special fundraiser is being underwritten by Spinnaker Trust, along with the Kennebunk River Club, Lupine Books,  Allyn and Norma Lamb, Mike and Denise Iafolla, Robert and Marjie Dennis, Mutasia, Billy and Rosemary Shore, John and Mary Mills, Tom and Sarah Vander Schaaff, Kitchen Chicks Catering, the Colony Hotel, Anne and Ken Raynor, Edison Press, Hurlbutt Designs, Schooner Eleanor, SoPo Wine Company, Maine & Vine, and the Wine House on Main.

The ticket price of $75 includes an autographed copy of Fighting the Night. Tickets can be purchased at Graves Library and online through Eventbrite. Call (207) 967-2778 or visit our website at www.graveslibrary.org for more information. Seating is limited.

PROGRAM FOR THE EVENING

5:00 PM – 5:45 PM                       DOORS OPEN PROMPTLY AT 5:00 PM.   RECEPTION WITH WINE AND LIGHT REFRESHMENT

5:50 PM – 6:00 PM                       WELCOME and THANK YOU TO SPONSORS

6:00 PM – 6:10 PM                       ANNOUNCEMENT OF JOYCE BUTLER STUDENT HISTORY AWARD

6:10 PM – 6:15 PM                       INTRODUCTION OF PAUL HENDRICKSON

6:15 PM – 7:00 PM                       INTERVIEW WITH PAUL HENDRICKSON

7:00 PM – 7:30 PM                       BOOK SIGNING

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:  [email protected]

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.

1 2