Tired of feeling overwhelmed by technology? Come to our tiny tech class on Tuesday, October 3 at 11:15 a.m. in the Community Room.
We will cover a small topic leaving plenty of time for questions and practice! In October we will explore how to take better photos on our smartphones.
For further information, please call 967-2778.
RICHARD RUSSO AND ANDRE DUBUS, III: IN CONVERSATION
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2023 
Vinegar Hill Music Theater, 53 Old Post Road, Arundel Maine
General admission ticket is $50.00
A (cash bar) cocktail hour and book sales will start at 5:30 pm followed by an intimate conversation with award-winning authors—and dear friends—Richard Russo and Andre Dubus, III at 6:30 pm.
Come autumn, Dubus and Russo will have just released brand new novels. Dubus’ Such Kindness, the story of a working-class white man’s terrible fall, has been called “A powerful portrait of recovered dignity” by People magazine. In Somebody’s Fool, Russo returns to North Bath, in upstate New York, and to the characters that captured the hearts and imaginations of millions of readers in his beloved bestsellers Nobody’s Fool and Everybody’s Fool.
As always, both novels brim with the two authors’ trademark heartrending observations and—especially in Russo’s case—wry humor. These are two masters in peak form.
Russo and Dubus have read to rapt audiences at Graves Library over the years, but this very special evening marks the first time the longtime friends will be appearing together in Kennebunkport.
Moderating the conversation will be former Graves Library board member Joshua Bodwell, editorial director of Godine and Black Sparrow Press.
This event is being sponsored by our friends at Vinegar Hill Music Theater.
Print : A Bookstore will be selling a variety of the authors’ works during the first hour of the event. Both Russo and Dubus, III will stay after their talk to personalize any purchases.
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.
Andre Dubus III’s books include the New York Times’ bestsellers House of Sand and Fog, The Garden of Last Days, and his memoir, Townie. His recent novel, Gone So Long, was named to many “Best Books” lists, including The Boston Globe’s “Twenty Best Books of 2018.” In April 2023, Dubus served as editor of Reaching Inside: 50 Acclaimed Authors on 100 Unforgettable Short Stories. His novel, Such Kindness, was released in June 2023. A collection of personal essays, Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin, is due in winter 2024.
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.
Death Café – Community, Conversation, and Coffee.
We will be meeting in the Community Room on Wednesday, August 23 @ 9:00 am. Please call the Library to register as space is limited for this program. (967-2778)
What is a Death Café? A Death Café is a safe and relaxed space to gather with people to discuss topics related to death and dying. The objective is to engage in interesting, thought-provoking, and life-affirming conversations.
Facilitated by: Marilyn R. Gugliucci, MA, Ph.D., AGHEF, GSAF, AGSF, NAOMEF, Professor and Director of Geriatric Education and Research at the University of New England.
Hosted by: Kennebunkport Public Health Department and the Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library.
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.
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.
Monthly Movie Night! Join us for a great night of theater, snacks, and friends on Thursday, March 28 @ 6:45 PM in the Community Room.
One night a month, the Library’s Community Room will transform into a movie theater. Meet up with your friends, and snack on some popcorn!
Lego Madness will take place on Tuesday, March 26 at 3:15 PM
Bring your imagination for an hour of fun. Imagine, Build, Create! Unstructured build time will be followed by a group-building challenge and game.
This program is for elementary-aged students. Please give us a call to register at 967-2778.
Potato Pals
New this November, come design your own Potato Pal. How can you participate? Come to the Library, select a potato, take it home, and transform it into a favorite character. Bring it back to the Library to go on display. It’s that easy! Potatoes will be available starting November 1 with spudtacular prizes awarded by November 30. 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.
Tired of feeling overwhelmed by technology? Come to our tiny tech class on Tuesday, September 5 at 11:15 a.m. in the Community Room.
We will cover a small topic leaving plenty of time for questions and practice! In November we will explore online shopping.
For further information, please call 967-2778.
Portland Press Herald 2023 The Year in Photos
“The best photojournalists carefully observe the world. They notice authentic details and bring them to us in ways we are unable to forget. Photographs can pinpoint what we have in common, what is worth our investment, our hope, our struggle, and our fight.”
Join us for an opening reception with light refreshments on Tuesday, July 2, 5:00-6:30 PM
