Hello everyone!

I just wanted to share another amazing virtual event that you will definitely want to tune in to. Our friend, Steve Courtney, will be the guest speaker tomorrow for the Kensal Rise Library in London. The details are below including the link to sign up.  As well already know, Steve is a wonderful speaker and incredibly knowledgeable so this should be a great time for all. Thank you!


In the northwest corner of London is a small, elegant brick library opened in a ceremony by Mark Twain in September 1900. The Clemenses - Sam, Livy, Clara and Jean - had spent the summer in a house nearby, at the tail-end of a long London residence (with an interval in Vienna) that began with the death of Susy Clemens in 1896.
The Kensal Rise Library has served the surrounding community ever since - but in 2010 the local government decided that it must close, a result of the British government's attempts at cost-cutting. The people of the community rallied to support it, even organizing a library on the sidewalk when the place was padlocked,and bringing celebrities such as Philip Pullman and Dame Antonia Fraser to the cause. Way over in Hartford, Connecticut, the Mark Twain House & Museum lent its support in letters and Executive Director Dr. Cindy Lovell was even able to deliver a supportive speech at a London church. Finally, in September 2019, the library reopened, to be closed again as COVID hit. Just now, it's opened again.
The transatlantic bond between the London library and the Hartford house and museum continues. This coming Wednesday, April 21, Mark Twain House historian Steve Courtney will be speaking to the Kensal Rise Library community via Zoom on the subject of "Mark Twain in England." Steve will explore Twain's visits to the UK, his attitudes toward the British, and his encounters with such major figures as Charles Darwin, George Bernard Shaw, and Bram Stoker (author of Dracula). Finally, he'll focus on the summer of 1900 that culminated in Twain's opening the library, giving a speech that included the words "I think it a proof of the healthy, moral, financial, and mental condition of the community if it taxes itself for its mental food."
It's an evening event in England, which means mid-afternoon in the Eastern U.S. - 2:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 21, available with a donation to the library of any amount. You can link with it here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mark-twain-in-england-with-expert-steve-courtney-tickets-148917094037

Mallory
Mallory Howard
Assistant Curator
The Mark Twain House & Museum
351 Farmington Avenue
Hartford, CT 06105
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860-280-3120