Tuesday: Virtual

Tuesday, September 27 at 7pm EST - THE BALLAD OF PERILOUS GRAVES with Alex Jennings and Nikki Woolfolk (Virtual)

Debut novelist Alex Jennings joins Steampunk author and chocolatier Nikki Woolfolk to discuss his dazzling new fantasy work.

In a fantastical version of New Orleans where music is magic, a battle for the city’s soul brews between two young mages, a vengeful wraith, and one powerful song in this vibrant and imaginative debut.

Nola is a city full of wonders. A place of sky trolleys and dead cabs, where haints dance the night away and Wise Women keep the order, and where songs walk, talk and keep the spirit of the city alive. To those from Far Away, Nola might seem strange. To failed magician, Perilous Graves, it’s simply home. Then the rhythm stutters.?

Nine songs of power have escaped from the magical piano that maintains the city’s beat and without them, Nola will fail.

FREE virtual event! Learn More & Register Here.

Wednesday: Virtual

Wednesday, September 28 at 7pm EST: The Trouble Begins at Home: CRITICAL INSIGHTS - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Virtual)

The MTH&M welcomes scholars R. Kent Rasmussen, Kevin Mac Donnell, Barbara Schmidt, and Patrick Ober to the Trouble Begins lecture series to discuss the recently published book “Critical Insights: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” The book was edited by Rasmussen and all four were among the twelve contributing scholars.

Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer holds a special place in American literature. Never out of print since its original publication in 1876 and equally beloved by both children and adults, it is one of the most widely read American novels ever published. Despite the book’s enduring popularity and its author’s fame as one of the greatest American writers, it has received surprisingly little scholarly attention. It is a difficult-to-believe but remarkable fact that Critical Insights: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is the first entirely original collection of critical analyses of the novel ever published!

FREE virtual event! Learn More & Register Here.

Thursday: In-Person & Virtual

Thursday, September 29 - Our First-Ever LITERARY HAPPY HOUR: A Deadly Gilded Free Fall (In-Person & Virtual)

The Mark Twain House & Museum in partnership with Hartford Flavor Company presents an evening of Gilded Age custom cocktails with Vanderbilt University Professor Cecelia Tichi, the author of Gilded Age Cocktails and What Would Mrs. Astor Do?, discussing her new cozy murder mystery A GILDED AGE FREE FALL with The MTH&M’s Associate Director of Interpretation Grace Belanger. 

Literary Happy Hour begins at 6 pm with Twain-inspired custom cocktails, cocktail demonstrations by Hartford Flavor Company, beer, wine, or soft drinks. The Nook Café will also feature snacks, sandwiches and salads for purchase.

At 7 pm, there will be a book discussion on Dr. Tichi’s latest Gilded Age murder mystery, A GILDED AGE FREE FALL, which will be available via livestream.  

About The Book: 

Toxic medicine, a fanatic Chicago detective, and a fatal plunge down a steep staircase embroil Val and Roddy DeVere in a dangerous quest for facts in 1899. Roddy’s fledgling business teeters as his partner begs him to free him from a detective’s “witch hunt.” The question: was the partner’s wife’s fatal free fall an accident? Or was it murder?  

There are three IN-PERSON ticket options: 

$5.00 – Admission (cash bar and food for purchase) 

$12.00 – Admission with one cocktail included (cash bar for additional beverages and food for purchase) 

$29.00 – Admission with one cocktail and a signed copy of A GILDED AGE FREE FALL (cash bar for additional beverages and food for purchase) 

In-Person Event: Register Here.

To watch the free virtual livestream at 7pm EST, Register Here.

Attendees must be 21 and over to drink. 

Just Announced

Thursday, November 17 at 12pm EST - The MTH&M and the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum present WOMEN OF THE AMERICAN WEST: Authors Katie Hickman and April White in a lunchtime conversation with Michael Grauer (Virtual) 

After the outbreak of the Civil War, Samuel Clemens skedaddled out West to find fame, fortune and, eventually, his literary persona: Mark Twain. Sam was far from the only person out “roughing it” after lighting out for the territories. Women saddled up and forged their own place in the American West. With WOMEN OF THE AMERICAN WEST, a virtual lunchtime discussion, The Mark Twain House & Museum and the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum set out to explore these pioneering, adventurous and oft-neglected women as chronicled in two new books: BRAVE HEARTED: The Women of the American West by Katie Hickman and THE DIVORCE COLONY by April White. Joining the authors for this lunchtime virtual conversation will be Michael Grauer, the McCasland Chair of Cowboy Culture and Curator of Cowboy Collections and Western Art at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. 

FREE Lunchtime Virtual Event! Register Here.

Learn More & Register Here. 

Boo!

October's Graveyard Shift Ghost Tours of The Mark Twain House are on sale NOW!

These hour-long journeys into the Twain House are filled with haunted family history, Victorian traditions surrounding Spiritualism and death, and stories of unexplained phenomena. Come discover where SyFy's "Ghost Hunters" did three investigations of this National Historic Landmark!

Our annual nocturnal tours of the Clemens Family's historic home always sell out, so be sure to book early. Graveyard Shift Ghost Tours run weekends starting September 30. Reserve Your Tickets Here. 

Tickets Selling Fast!

Tuesday, October 11 at 7pm EST - New York Times Journalist Maggie Haberman on CONFIDENCE MAN: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America with Susan Campbell

In-Person Event at the Immanuel Congregational Church, 10 Woodland Street, Hartford (across the street from The Mark Twain House & Museum)

Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman joins Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and author Susan Campbell on Haberman’s highly-anticipated CONFIDENCE MAN: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.

Few journalists working today have covered Donald Trump more extensively than Maggie Haberman. And few understand him and his motivations better. Now, demonstrating her majestic command of this story, Haberman reveals in full the depth of her understanding of the 45th president himself, and of what the Trump phenomenon means.

Interviews with hundreds of sources and numerous interviews over the years with Trump himself portray a complicated and often contradictory historical figure.

In-Person Event! Ticket $42 includes signed copy of the book; $37 for MTH&M Members. Learn More & Register Here.

Please note: The MTH&M is a non-partisan non-profit organization that presents significant authors in conversation on topics important to our time. This event is not an endorsement by the museum of any political point of view.

Join Us!

Friday, November 4 at 6pm: The Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award Celebration presented by David Baldacci and Bank of America. In-person event!

The 2022 Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award honors an exemplary work of fiction from the previous calendar year that speaks with an “American Voice” about American experiences, much like Twain’s masterwork, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. From 60 eligible titles published in 2021 submitted for consideration this year, the winning work of fiction will be chosen this fall. You can see the four finalists here. 

Join us on November 4th at our celebration dinner to recognize a modern voice that’s defining our current America. The award will be presented by bestselling author and former trustee of The Mark Twain House & Museum, David Baldacci, and excerpts of the winning book will be read by the author.

For ticket and sponsorship information, please contact our Development Office.

Book Your Visit!

Plan your visit to America's Best House Museum (Forbes Magazine, 2021) by Clicking Here.

Upcoming Events

V = Virtual Event; IP = In-Person Event

September 27 - The Ballad of Perilous Graves with Alex Jennings (V)

September 28 - The Trouble Begins at Home: Critical Insights - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with an all-star panel of Twain scholars (V)

September 29 - Literary Happy Hour with Hartford Flavor Company and Dr. Cecelia Tichi, author of A Deadly Gilded Free Fall (IP & V)

October 3 - True Biz with Sara Novi? (V)

October 4 - The United States of Cryptids: A Tour of American Myths and Monsters with J.W. Ocker (V)

October 6 - Mark Twain's 10 Lessons for a Healthy Democracy: Keeping the Republic with U.S. Ambassador (ret.) Donald T. Bliss (V)

October 11 - Maggie Haberman on Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America (IP)

October 13 - Over My Dead Body: The Hidden History of America's Cemeteries with Greg Melville (V)

October 18 - MTH&M & Connecticut Funeral Directors Association present All the Living and the Dead: From Embalmers to Executioners, an Exploration of the People Who Have Made Death Their Life's Work with Hayley Campbell (V)

October 19 - Virtual Gallery Talk with Printmakers' Network of Southern New England (V)

October 20 - Classic Monsters Unleashed! with horror writer panel (V)

October 24 - Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances with Lisa Morton (V)

October 25 - Stay True - A Memoir by Hua Hsu (V)

October 27 - Tesla: Wizard at War -The Genius, The Particle Beam Weapon, and the Pursuit of Power with Marc J. Seifer (V)

November 1 - MTH&M and Amistad Center present Beatrice's Ledger: Growing Up in the Jim Crow South with Dr. Ruth Martin and Dr. Vivian Martin (IP)

November 3 - Retail Gangster: The INSANE, Real-Life Story of CRAZY EDDIE with Gary Weiss (V)

November 4 - Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award Celebration (IP)

November 7 - My Government Means to Kill Me with Rasheed Newson (V)

November 8 - Virtual Gallery Talk with Printmakers' Network of Southern New England (V)

November 10 - H.W. Brands on The Last Campaign: Sherman, Geronimo and the War for America (V)

November 15 - This Victorian Life: Modern Adventures in Nineteenth-century Culture, Cooking, Fashion, and Technology with Sarah and Gabriel Chrisman (V)

November 17 - The MTH&M and the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum present a lunchtime conversation with Women of the American West with Katie Hickman and April White (V)

November 29 - Amistad Center & MTH&M present The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family with Kerri K. Greenidge (V)

December 1 - Amistad Center & MTH&M present Radical Lives: Four Abolitionists with Linda Hirshman and Lydia Moland (V)

December 7 - The Trouble Begins at Home: Susy Clemens' Final Years (V)

December 8 - Requiem for the Massacre: A Black History on the Conflict, Hope, and Fallout of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre with RJ Young (V)

December 12 - Peniel E. Joseph on The Third Reconstruction: America's Struggle for Racial Justice in the Twenty-First Century (V)

More to be announced soon!

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!

Support the House

Author programs at The Mark Twain House & Museum are sponsored by Connecticut Public Broadcasting and the Wish You Well Foundation. Virtual author programs are supported by Suzanne Hopgood in the memory of former MTH&M Trustee Frank Lord.

Programs at The Mark Twain House & Museum are made possible in part by support from CT Humanities; the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of the Arts; Ensworth Charitable Foundation, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee; the Greater Hartford Arts Council’s United Arts Campaign; The Hartford; The Mark Twain Foundation; The National Endowment for the Humanities; and Travelers.