The Gardiner Library Association is hosting a two-day celebration of Edwin Arlington Robinson, Gardiner’s three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author on April 6th and 7th. This festival is called E.A.’s Coming Home to Gardiner and Scott Donaldson is bringing him! The Maine State Legislature has proclaimed the first week of April Edwin Arlington Robinson Week.
Scott Donaldson, the nation’s pre-eminent literary biographer, has just published the definitive biography of Robinson. It incorporates hundreds of sources that were restricted forty years ago when the last major biography was published.
Edwin Arlington Robinson, born in 1869, spent the first twenty-eight years of his life in Gardiner. At the time of his death in 1935, he was recognized as the leading poet in the English language.
The celebration starts on Friday, April 6th, with a reception at the Gardiner Library at 5:30 p.m., followed by a lecture and autograph session by the author, Scott Donaldson. The reception is catered by the A-1 Diner.
The next morning, Saturday, April 7th, features three lectures. One will be David S. Nivison, the grandnephew of Robinson and the last person living to have known Robinson. Danny D. Smith, Gardiner historian, will talk about letters that the poet wrote to his lifelong friend, Laura E. Richards. Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr., Maine State Historian, will present a slide lecture about photographs taken by J. Arthur Hayes from 1896 to 1900 in Gardiner.
The festival concludes with guided walking tours of sites in Gardiner know to Robinson at 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. Representative Stephen Hanley and his wife Sheila are hosting a reception at the Robinson House, the National Historic Landmark where the poet lived, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Mr. Donaldson will also be attending receptions Tuesday, 4/3/07 at 6:30pm at the Togus VA Medical Center, Building 210 sponsored by the Kennebec Historical Society; Wednesday, 4/4/07 at 4pm at Colby College and Thursday, 4/5/07 at 6pm at the Patten Free Library in Bath.
Come join us as the Kennebec River Valley celebrates Maine’s three-time Pulitzer Prize –winning poet!
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