LEARN ABOUT THE NEW TRASH/RECYCLING SYSTEM IN TOWN – WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16 @ 9:00 AM

We invite you to join us for our “Community Connections” session. Members of the Solid Waste & Recycling team will be here on Wednesday, April 16 @ 9:00 to talk about the new trash and recycling buckets that will be delivered in May. We will hear about how it works, what to add/omit, what bins to use for what products, days of pick-up, and more. This important session will give us all the information we need moving forward with our trash and recycling.

Light refreshments will be provided!

MOVIE NIGHT AT GRAVES LIBRARY – MARCH AT 6:45 PM

We hope you will join us in the Community Room for our monthly movie night! Bring your family and friends, it’s always a fun time. Enjoy beverages and popcorn. Let us know if you have any questions (967-2778).

MOVIE NIGHT AT GRAVES LIBRARY – FEBRUARY AT 6:45 PM

We hope you will join us in the Community Room for our monthly movie night! Bring your family and friends, it’s always a fun time. Enjoy beverages and popcorn. Let us know if you have any questions (967-2778).

AN AFTERNOON OF PAUL REVERE – APRIL 12 @ 1:00 PM

THE MIDNIGHT RIDE OF PAUL REVERE

April 12 ~ 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM

We are thrilled to invite our good friend and neighbor, Tom Putnam, to the Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library on Saturday, April 12 @ 1:00 pm to celebrate and discuss the life and legend of Paul Revere.
It was one Maine’s most famous sons, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who singlehandedly turned Paul Revere into one of the most recognized heroes of the American Revolution. As the country prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the historic battles of Lexington and Concord, Mr. Putnam will offer a multimedia presentation about the events of April 19, 1775, as well as how Longfellow’s poem, Paul
Revere’s Ride, written some 86 years afterwards, memorialized Revere in hopes of inspiring Longfellow’s fellow citizens to support the abolitionist cause in the buildup of the Civil War.

A graduate of Kennebunk High School, Tom Putnam is the former Director of the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston and of the Concord Museum in Concord, Massachusetts. He currently lives here in Kennebunkport.

[Painting by N.C. Wyeth]

Refreshments will be provided by the Graves Library Snack Team. Doors open at 12:30 pm. The Graves Library is located at 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport. Please give us a call at 967-2778 with any questions about this event.

NEW ENGLAND AUTHOR – JESSICA SHATTUCK – MAY 17 @ 3:00 PM

As part of the Patsy Bray Mahoney Lecture Series, we are pleased to welcome Jessica Shattuck to the Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library on Saturday, May 17 at 3:00 pm. Ms. Shattuck will read from her latest book Last House (William Morrow, May 2024) and talk about the writing process.

Jessica Shattuck is The New York Times Bestselling author of the novels Last House (William Morrow, May 2024), The Women in the Castle (William Morrow 2017), a New York Times Bestseller, #1 Indie Next Pick, and winner of The New England Book Award; Perfect Life (W.W.Norton 2009) and The Hazards of Good Breeding (W.W.Norton 2003) which was a New York Times Notable Book, a Boston Globe Editor’s Choice Best Book of the Year, and a finalist for the 2003 PEN/Winship Award. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Guernica, Glamour, Open City, and The Tampa Review among other publications. Her other writing has appeared in The New York Times, LitHub, Electric Literature, Wired, The Believer Magazine, and The Boston Globe. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and three children.

Refreshments will be provided by the Graves Library Snack Team. Copies of the book will be for sale and signing after the program. The Library is located at 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport, Maine. Please call the Library (967-2778) with any questions. Additional parking available at Kennebunkport Consolidated School (Route 9) and Fire Department Parking Lot (North Street).

We hope you will join us for this very special afternoon.

EVENING BOOK GROUP – MARCH 27 @ 5:00 PM

Evening Book Group

Join us on Thursday, March 27 at 5:00 p.m. for this month’s book group. The book this month is 84 Charring Cross Road by Helene Hanff. All are welcome to attend.

Please give us a call at 967-2778 for more information on this event and other upcoming reads.

DEATH CAFE – WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19 @ 9:00 AM

Please join us for our Death Café – Community, Conversation, and Coffee. We will be meeting in the Community Room from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m.

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. Please join us for this community conversation. Registration is required.

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 Graves Library. Please call (207) 967-2778 to register. Space is limited.

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS – WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12 @ 9:00 AM

We invite you to join us for our “Community Connections” session. A member of the KEMS team will be here to talk about the benefits of having a non-profit ambulance service in Kennebunkport. Light refreshments will be provided!

Following this event, each month will bring a new member of our Town’s government to share updates and essential information. For further details about Community Connections, please contact the Library at 967-2778. The Library is located at 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport.

MOVIE MATINEE – FEBRUARY 22 @ 2:00 PM

We hope you will consider spending the afternoon with us on Saturday, February 22 @ 2:00 pm for our magnificent movie matinee. We will watch and discuss a “surprise” showing of a well-loved film while sampling sweets and savories from local purveyors. A wonderful thing to do with your friends at Graves Library on a chilly February day.

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.

IN CONVERSATION WITH MAINE AUTHORS BILL ROORBACH AND SARAH BRAUNSTEIN- MARCH 1 @ 2:00 PM

THE PATSY BRAY MAHONEY LECTURE SERIES PRESENTS – BILL ROORBACH AND SARAH BRAUNSTEIN

We are so excited to welcome two terrific Maine authors to Graves Library on Saturday, March 1 @ 2:00 p.m. Bill Roorbach and Sarah Braunstein will be here to talk about their latest works and what it takes to be a successful author in Maine. These two novelists who are old friends first will reunite for an afternoon to make us laugh, cry, ask questions, and get our books signed!

Bill Roorbach is the author of eleven books, most recently the novels Beep, Lucky Turtle, and The Remedy for Love.

His Maine-based nonfiction includes Temple Stream and Into Woods. He’s won two Maine Literary Awards and—this just in—a 2025 Pushcart Prize. Beep is the thoroughly grownup story of a Costa Rican Squirrel Monkey who is smuggled to NYC by an adventurous tween named Inga. Mayhem ensues, but together they will save the world!

Sarah Braunstein is the author of two novels, Bad Animals and The Sweet Relief of Missing Children (both from W. W. Norton).

Her short stories and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, Playboy, AGNI, Ploughshares, The Harvard Review, The Cincinnati Review, The Sun, and in other publications. Her first novel was the winner of the Maine Book Award for Fiction and a finalist for the first novel prize from the Center for Fiction. She has been the recipient of a “5 Under 35” fiction award from the National Book Foundation and a Rona Jaffe Writers Award. She holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and an MSW from Smith College School for Social Work. She is associate professor of English and creative writing at Colby College. Bad Animals is a masterclass on reading as writing, character-building, and the craft in general. A meta-narrative depicting the small-town librarian, Maeve Cosgrove, who loses the job she loves more than anything due to the accusations of a complex teenage patron, the novel is a sophisticated exploration of storytelling.

Light refreshments will be provided by the Graves Library Snack Team. Copies of books will be available for sale and signing after the discussion.

The Library is located at 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport, Maine 04046. Parking is available on Maine Street, Consolidated School (Route 9) and the Village Fire Station (North Street). Doors will open at 1:30 p.m.

Graves Library