Roxana Robinson, author of the recently published historical novel Dawson’s Fall, will speak at the Mattapoisett Free Public Library as the first event in the Purrington Lecture Series on Sunday, October 27at 2:00 pm. Books will be available for purchase and signing, courtesy of Haley Booksellers, and a reception will follow the lecture. For reservations to this free event, call the library at 508-758-4171 or email spizzolato@sailsinc.org
Dawson’s Fall, set in 1889 in Charleston, South Carolina, draws on family letters and journals. According to Publishers Weekly: “Robinson bases her formidable novel on the lives of her great-grandparents, exposing the fragile and horrific state of affairs in the American South two decades after the end of the Civil War. Robinson’s descriptive and imaginative prose sings; this book is a startling reminder of the immoral and lasting brutality visited on the South by the institution of slavery.”
Roxana Robinson is the author of ten books – six novels, three collections of short stories, and the award-winning biography of Georgia O’Keeffe. Four of her books were chosen as New York Times Notable Books, two as New York Times Editors Choices. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper’s, Best American Short Stories, Tin House, and elsewhere. Her work has been widely anthologized and broadcast on NPR. She is the recipient of many awards, the most recent of which is the Barnes and Noble “Writers for Writers” Award from Poets and Writers. She has received fellowships from the NEA, the MacDowell Colony and the Guggenheim Foundation.
The Purrington Lecture Series is sponsored by the Mattapoisett Library Trust and features several notable programs throughout the year. Other events this fall include a lecture by Dr. Bertram Zarins, “The Super Bowl New England Patriots (as seen through the eyes of the Team Physician)” on Sunday, November 3, and a holiday concert by the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra Chamber Ensemble on Sunday, December 15. These programs will also begin at 2:00 pm.
The library is located at 7 Barstow Street and is accessible.