The Mark Twain House & Museum is pleased to announce the four finalists for The 2023 Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award (MTAVL)! The 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. The recipient of the award receives a $25,000 prize.

 Over 120 eligible titles were submitted for consideration. Each book was reviewed by multiple members of the reading committee, resulting in a Long List of 35 incredible books announced in June 2023. After careful deliberation, a select committee further narrowed the list down to a Short List of 10 phenomenal titles. We have now arrived at the four finalists:

THE 2023 MARK TWAIN AMERICAN VOICE IN LITERATURE FINALISTS

MERCY STREET by Jennifer Haigh 

 MOTHER COUNTRY by Jacinda Townsend

 THE RABBIT HUTCH by Tess Gunty

 TRUST by Hernan Diaz

The 2023 MATVL Finalist Panel of Judges includes novelist Amity Gaige, novelist and short story author Dan Pope, 2022 MTAVL recipient Dawnie Walton, Twain scholar Lawrence Howe, and novelist and journalist Rand Richards Cooper,

 The winning title will be announced soon and the award, along with its $25,000 prize, will be conferred by its benefactor David Baldacci at the American Voice Award Banquet on November 3 at The Mark Twain House & Museum. Tickets and information for the ceremony will be available shortly.

 The Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award is sponsored by: David Baldacci and Bank of America.

Begins Tonight: Tours Selling Out!

Hartford's most chilling Halloween tradition returns! GRAVEYARD SHIFT GHOST TOURS of The Mark Twain House begin September 29 and are offered Friday and Saturday nights through the month of October.

 Make a nighttime visit to the Victorian home of Mark Twain, a journey into the paranormal and haunted history. Featured on SyFy’s Ghost Hunters, Ghost Hunters Academy, and Biography Channel’s My Ghost Story, you’re in for a night of mystery filled with creepy stories and exclusive accounts of unexplained encounters in the Clemens family home. Grab your tickets while you can….they might disappear faster than a ghost!

 

Tickets: $29 / $21 for children 10 to 16. Not recommended for children under 10. Reserve your tickets by CLICKING HERE.

Wednesday

Wednesday, October 4th, 2023 at 7:00pm - THE TROUBLE BEGINS: A Delicate Balance: Work and Play in Mark Twain’s Creative Process with Dr. Kerry Driscoll (In-Person & Virtual)

 Although Mark Twain published over twenty books during his lifetime—in addition to countless short stories, sketches, and essays—he nonetheless repeatedly maintained that he was essentially a “lazy” man. This talk, featuring archival photographs and manuscripts from the Mark Twain Project, examines the concepts of “work” and “play” in terms of the writer’s creative process and prolific literary output. Specifically, it explores the physical conditions and circumstances Mark Twain found most conducive to the expression of his artistic genius—from his Quarry Farm study in Elmira, NY to a rented room atop a mountain in Heidelberg, Germany, and culminating in the comfort of his elaborately carved Venetian bed.

 This is a FREE HYBRID event sponsored by CT Humanities and the Center for Mark Twain Studies in Elmira, New York.

 In-Person Event: FREE. REGISTER HERE.

Livestream: FREE. REGISTER HERE.

 In-person attendees are invited to come to the Museum Center early to visit this year’s summer exhibition For Business or Pleasure? Twain’s Summer Sojourns which highlights the Clemens family’s American-based summer vacations. Virtual attendees will receive a link to watch live via YouTube.

Next Saturday

Saturday, October 7 at 5:30pm - Reflecting on Harriet: Playwright Kyle Bass in Conversation (In-Person)

Prolific playwright Kyle Bass comes to The Mark Twain House & Museum to discuss the HartBeat Ensemble production of his play, Possessing Harriet. His new play tells the true story of Harriet Powell, a young mixed-race, enslaved woman who escapes her owners at a hotel. A formerly enslaved Underground Railroad conductor her to the home of an impassioned abolitionist, who is hosting his young cousin Elizabeth Cady (yes! before she was a Stanton!), a women’s rights advocate. In the 90 minutes before her nighttime escape to Canada, Harriet confronts new ideas about race, gender and equality as she answers the tragic question: What will she give up for freedom?

Kyle will be in conversation with Hartford native Channon Miller, Trinity College Assistant Professor of History and American Studies. They’ll discuss the play’s investigation of the interior and exterior lives of black women during slavery, and the tragic choice between freedom and leaving family many had to make.

 

Tickets for Reflecting on Harriet: Playwright Kyle Bass in Conversation are $5. To register CLICK HERE.

Attendees who purchase ticket to this event will receive a discount code for $5 off tickets to Possessing Harriet via their confirmation email. On Saturday, October 7, there are performances at 2pm and 8pm at HartBeat Ensemble's Carriage House Theatre, located directly across the street from The Mark Twain House. Guests attending the lecture program are encouraged to park in our lot and attend the matinee or evening performance that day.

 To get more information about Possessing Harriet and other Reflecting on Harriet special events, CLICK HERE

Upcoming Events

V = Virtual Event; IP = In-Person Event

October 4 - THE TROUBLE BEGINS: Work and Play in Mark Twain's Creative Process with Dr. Kerry Driscoll (IP & V)

 October 7 - HartBeat Ensemble's Reflecting on Harriet: Possessing Harriet Playwright Kyle Bass in Conversation (IP)

 October 10 - America's Castle: One Hundred Years of Mar-a-Lago with Mary C. Shanklin (V)

 October 11 - THE TROUBLE BEGINS: The Phenomenon of Summer Reading with Donna Harrington-Lueker (V)

 October 17 - The Hidden Language of Cats: How They Have Us at Meow with Sarah Brown (V)

 October 23 - Before the Gilded Age: W.W. Corcoran and the Rise of American Capitalism and Culture with Mark L. Goldstein

 October 25 - THE TROUBLE BEGINS: Lurking, There, in the Underbrush: The Gilded Age in the Adirondacks with Robert Engel (IP & V)

 October 30 - Modern Occultism: History, Theory, and Practice with Mitch Horowitz (V)

 November 3 - The Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Celebration Dinner with David Baldacci (IP)

 November 8 - THE TROUBLE BEGINS: The House that Trudeau Built with Chessie Monks-Kelly (IP & V)

 November 27 - Class with Stephanie Land (V)

 November 27 - THE TROUBLE BEGINS: Gravity - Selected Letters of Olivia Langdon Clemens with Barbara Snedecor (IP & 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!

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.

 Activities at The Mark Twain House & Museum are made possible in part by support from CT Humanities; State of CT Department of Economic & Community Development, Office of the Arts; The Hartford; The Mark Twain Foundation; National Endowment for the Humanities; and Travelers Foundation and the Greater Hartford Arts Council.