Kennebunk River Club

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 LostFor 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 Warwas 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

AUTHOR VISIT DAVID BALDACCI – A BENEFIT FOR GRAVES LIBRARY (SOLD OUT)

DAVID BALDACCI – A BENEFIT FOR GRAVES LIBRARY – JUNE 22, 2023

We are excited to welcome celebrated author David Baldacci to our 12th annual Author Event on June 22 at 5:00 PM at the historic Kennebunk River Club Casino, 116 Ocean Avenue in Kennebunkport.  David Baldacci is the national and international best-selling author of widely read crime and thriller books and series. He published his first novel, Absolute Power, in 1996 and has written a total of 47 novels for adults, several of which were adapted for film and television. He has also published seven novels for young readers. David’s books are published in over 45 languages and in more than 80 countries, with 150 million copies sold worldwide. His newest thriller, Simply Lies, was released in April 2023.

David Baldacci has been writing since childhood when his mother gave him a lined notebook in which to write down his stories. (Much later, when David thanked her for being the spark that ignited his writing career, she revealed that she’d given him the notebook to keep him quiet, “because every mom needs a break now and then.”)  A lifelong Virginian, he received his bachelor’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, after which he practiced law in Washington, D.C.

In addition to being a prolific writer, David is a devoted philanthropist. His greatest efforts are dedicated to his family’s Wish You Well Foundation, established by David and his wife Michelle. The Foundation supports adult and family literacy by fostering and promoting the development and expansion of new and existing literacy and educational programs in the United States.

“We are beyond thrilled to have Mr. Baldacci 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 daily operations of the Library.”

This special fundraiser is being underwritten by Spinnaker Trust, along with the Kennebunk River Club, Fine Print Booksellers, Kennebunk Beach Realty, John and Mary Mills, Mike and Denise Iafolla, Paul Mahoney, Robert and Marjie Dennis, Mutasia, Mark and Vicky Lamarre, Billy and Rosemary Shore, Anne and Ken Raynor, Bob and Jane Garvey, Kitchen Chicks Catering, the Colony Hotel, Edison Press, Hurlbutt Designs, Schooner Eleanor, and South Portland Wine Company.

The ticket price of $75 includes an autographed copy of Simply Lies. Tickets can be purchased here at Graves Library.

Call us at (207) 967-2778 for more information. Seating is limited.  Don’t miss this extraordinary event with David Baldacci!