Award Winning Howard Frank Mosher Visits Keene Public Library

Transforming History Into Fiction: The Story of a Born Liar

On Tuesday, July 13 at 7 pm, the Keene Public Library presents Howard Frank Mosher who will discuss his newly released book, Walking to Gatlinburg. This event will take place in the library’s Heberton Hall.  

Set in during the Civil War, Walking to Gatlinburg chronicles the nightmarish odyssey of 17-year-old Morgan Kinneson from northern Vermont to Tennessee during 1864. The story begins with Morgan helping a black slave, Jesse, escape to Canada. When Morgan is drawn away by the chance to kill a moose that would feed his family for months, he returns to find that Jesse has been murdered.

Guilt-ridden and desperate to reunite with his family, Morgan travels south, looking for his older brother Pilgrim, who is missing from the Union Army.  When Morgan discovers that Jesse’s killers are on his tail, and that he unknowingly possesses something of dear value, his trek to Gatlinburg becomes a journey of intense survival. Along the way, he visits the battlefield at Gettysburg, is wounded during a mountain feud and meets an escaped slave who turns out to be Jesse’s granddaughter.

Copies of Walking to Gatlinburg will be available for sale and the author will sign copies purchased during the event.
 
'Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation' has been organized by the Huntington Library, San Marino, California, and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, New York City, in cooperation with the American Library Association Public Programs Office.  This exhibition was made possible by major grants from the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, created by Congress and charged with planning the national celebration of Lincoln's 200th birthday.  This program is also funded through a grant from the New Hampshire Humanities Council.

Mosher is the author of 10 books, including “Waiting for Teddy Williams,” “The True Account,” and “A Stranger in the Kingdom,” which was a co-recipient of the New England Book Award for fiction. Mosher has received a Guggenheim fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Literature Award, and the American Civil Liberties Union Award for Excellence in the Arts. Mosher will be available to answer questions and sign books following his presentation. Copies of the book will be available for purchase after the program.

The library is located at 60 Winter Street. This program and all of the library’s programs are free and open to the public. Please call the library at 603-352-0157 for questions or information about future library events.