Writing at the Mark Twain House
Mark Twain’s house in Hartford has long been a place for writers to gather. Sam Clemens himself often gathered writing cronies in the library or around the billiard table. When the effort to establish the home as a historic house museum was getting underway in 1955‚ the men and women who had this vision pledged to make the house “not only a memorial to him‚ but also a literary center in keeping with Mark Twain’s standing as a world figure in literature.”
In that spirit‚ and as part of the observance of the Mark Twain Centennial Celebration‚ the Mark Twain House & Museum launched Writing at the Mark Twain House in Spring 2010. It began with an eight-week memoir course taught by distinguished authors and editors Lary Bloom and Suzanne Levine. The course explored such aspects of the memoir craft as scene-setting‚ dialogue‚ character development and narrative. Accomplished memoirists‚ including Wally Lamb‚ Mary-Ann Tirone Smith‚ Cindy Brown Austin and David Hays‚ participated in individual sessions.
“Writing programs at The Mark Twain House & Museum provide an exciting and appropriate development for our mission of preserving Mark Twain’s legacy‚” said Jeffrey L. Nichols‚ Executive Director of the Mark Twain House & Museum‚ in announcing the program. “Twain‚ of course‚ was a memoirist – he wrote about his youth on the Mississippi his days in the west‚ his life in Hartford – and I think he would be tickled by this innovation.”
Work produced by students in this first course will soon be posted on this site. Future sessions are planned for fiction‚ travel writing‚ journalism and the writing of “sketches” – those short‚ pithy pieces‚ both hilarious and deeply serious‚ in which Twain excelled.
For more information on Writing at the Mark Twain House‚ please contact our Publicist and Publications Editor:
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Steve Courtney |
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For printed information about the many educational programs at The Mark Twain House & Museum -- or at your local library, historical society or club -- click below. |
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Writing at the Mark Twain House |
Improve and develop your writing where Twain wrote. Our Writing at the Mark Twain House programs, launched in 2010, have created deep bonds among participants and instructors alike. Click here. |
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