Menu

Maine Authors in Conversation

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.

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

RICHARD RUSSO AND ANDRE DUBUS III @ VINEGAR HILL – OCTOBER 19 – 5:30 PM

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  

PURCHASE TICKETS NOW

 

 

 

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.

PURCHASE TICKETS