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The Mark Twain House and Museum Weekly Newsletter - March 24, 2024

Arts and Entertainment

March 25, 2024

From: The Mark Twain House and Museum

Jennifer Habel & Chris Bachelder on DAYSWORK - A Novel with Shastri Akella (Virtual)
Tuesday, March 26 at 7pm ET

Dayswork considers the blurry lines between life and literature, the slippage between what happens and what gets recorded, and the ways we locate ourselves in the lives of others. In the endless days of the pandemic, a woman spends her time sorting fact from fiction in the life and work of Herman Melville. As she delves into Melville’s impulsive purchase of a Massachusetts farmhouse, his fevered revision of Moby-Dick there, his intense friendship with neighbor Nathaniel Hawthorne, and his troubled and troubling marriage to Elizabeth Shaw, she becomes increasingly obsessed by what his devotion to his art reveals about cost, worth, and debt. Her preoccupation both deepens and expands, and her days’ work extends outward to an orbiting cast of Melvillean questers and fanatics, as well as to biographers and writers—among them Elizabeth Hardwick and Robert Lowell—whose lives resonate with Melville’s. As she pulls these distant figures close, her quarantine quest ultimately becomes a midlife reckoning with her own marriage and ambition.

Virtual Event! Choose your own price for non-members. Free for members.

LEARN MORE & REGISTER HERE.

Connecticut Mirror: In The Room with Senator Chris Murphy LIVE In-Person (Hybrid Event)
Wednesday, March 27 at 7:00pm ET
Check-in: 6:15 – 6:50 p.m.
Event Begins: 7:00 p.m. Auditorium Doors Close: 6:55 p.m.

In The Room is a new, in-person, monthly interview series with Connecticut’s top elected officials. Host John Dankosky brings a new approach to political interviews, exploring the policy and the people behind the policy. This first event of the series kicks off with Senator Chris Murphy!

FREE-HYBRID Event!

LEARN MORE & REGISTER HERE.

Jamie Figueroa on MOTHER ISLAND: A Daughter Claims Puerto Rico with Susanne Pari (In-Person)
Thursday, March 28 at 7pm

In prose that draws from Puerto Rican folklore and mythology, a literary lineage of women writers of color, and narratives of identity, Jamie Figueroa presents a cultural coming-of-age story. Mother Island gets to the heart of the question: Who do we become when we are no longer trying to be someone else? In a journey that takes her to Puerto Rico and back, Figueroa looks to her ancestors to reimagine her relationship to the past and to her mother’s native island, reaching beyond her own mother into a greater experience of mothering and claiming herself.

In-Person Event: $10 for non-members, free for MTH&M and community members (Members please login to access your discount). 

LEARN MORE & REGISTER HERE.

An Interactive Murder Mystery Comedy Tour

GET A CLUE Murder Mystery Tours of The Mark Twain House featuring Sea Tea Improv (In-Person)
Saturday, April 13 at 7pm ET

Who killed that varmint Pap Finn? Was it Tom Sawyer in the Library with the Wrench? The Prince (or was it the Pauper) in the Bedroom?We need YOU to solve this mystery! Inspired by the classic murder-mystery board game, the GET A CLUE Tours use the various rooms of the Twain House (secret passageway, conservatory, billiards room, and more) -- and some of the author's favorite literary characters portrayed by hilarious costumed actors from Sea Tea Improv -- as part of the game. This funny evening is a perfect for kids ages 10 to 110.

Tickets: $30/$22 for children ages 10 to 16. Reservations are required.

LEARN MORE & REGISTER HERE.

Write in The Mark Twain House!
Monday, April 15, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm ET

Not a writing class, not a writing workshop, just three hours of uninterrupted writing time in Mark Twain’s own library. Join a handful of fellow scribblers to write, reflect, and plot whatever piece of literature you’re working on. The space is quiet, except for the burbling fountain in the nearby conservatory, and infused with Mark Twain’s spirit. Laptops are welcome, but make sure you charge up before you come, as we have no power outlets. Pencils only, please; no pens permitted!

Limited Spots! Admission: $60; Reserve your seat HERE.

Contact Omar Acevedo at [email protected] with any questions.

GRAVEYARD SHIFT GHOST TOURS OF THE MARK TWAIN HOUSE (In-Person)
Friday, April 26 starting at 6pm

Experience the eerie allure of the Clemens Family home after dark with our Graveyard Shift Ghost Tours. Join us for a spine-tingling journey where you'll hear tales of paranormal investigations, unexplained phenomena witnessed by both staff and guests, and insights into Mark Twain's own fascination with the otherworldly. Learn about chilling chapters in the Clemens Family history, Victorian traditions surrounding death, Gilded Age spirit communication, and firsthand encounters with the supernatural. Who knows? You may even walk away having a spectral experience of your very own...

As seen on Syfy Channel's Ghost Hunters (three times!), Biography Channel's My Ghost Story, WNPR's Where We Live, and The West London Witch Podcast.

Tickets: $31 (Adults), $21 (Children, not recommended for youth under 10). Reservations are a must; these tours sell out! Scare up your tickets by reserving your spots HERE.

Upcoming Events

V = Virtual Event; IP = In-Person Event

March 26 - Dayswork: A Novel with Jennifer Habel and Chris Bachelder (V)

March 28 - Mother Island: A Daughter Claims Puerto Rico with Jamie Figueroa (IP)

April 2 - The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction 1860-1920 with Manisha Sinha (V)

April 11 - Arming the World: American Gun-Makers in the Gilded Age with Geoffrey Stewart (V)

April 15 - Writing in Mark Twain's Library

April 23 - THE TROUBLE BEGINS: All Things William Gillette with Paul Schiller (IP & V)

April 26 - Graveyard Shift Ghost Tours of The Mark Twain House (IP)

May 14 - THE TROUBLE BEGINS: The Life and Legacy of George Griffin with special guests (IP & V)

May 24 - GET A CLUE Tours of The Mark Twain House (IP)

June 20 - THE TROUBLE BEGINS: The Twain of Our Republic and The Lincoln of Our Literature with Jason H. Silverman (V)

To see all event information and registration, CLICK HERE.

To preorder books for our upcoming events, CLICK HERE. Signed books will be mailed after the event. Please note that we cannot ship outside of the U.S. at this time.

Your donation to The Mark Twain House & Museum helps us meet our mission to preserve the home and legacy of Mark Twain. Thank you for your generosity!

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