Mark Twain House Presents Mark My Words: Matt Taibbi and Colin McEnroe, April 12, 7:30 pm
Matt Taibbi and Colin McEnroe, two smart and funny writers in the tradition of Mark Twain, will share the stage April 12 in the Mark My Words series.
The conversation begins at 7:30 pm at The Mark Twain House & Museum, 351 Farmington Ave. Tickets are $25 and available by calling 860-247-0998 or www.marktwainhouse.org
Taibbi is the author of five books, a columnist for the Rolling Stone, and frequent television guest commentator, who describes himself as a “societal irritant” on his LinkedIn account.
McEnroe, host of The Colin McEnroe Show on WNPR, long-time Hartford Courant columnist, and frequent emcee, will lead the questioning.
Politics will certainly be on the bill. Taibbi’s book, Insane Clown President: Dispatches from the 2016 Circus, was described by Kirkus Reviews as “A lively set of dispatches [that] unfolds as a comedy [but] slowly turns into a horror movie.” His most recent book, “I Can’t Breathe: A Killing on Bay Street,” uses his reporter’s eye for a deep dive on the death of street hustler Eric Garner, a 43-year-old grandfather, who was restrained in a lethal choke hold by a Staten Island police officer in July 2014.
Also topical is Taibbi’s apology last fall following backlash over a memoir he co-wrote in 2000, The Exile: Sex, Drugs and Libel in the New Russia. The Exile was a newspaper he and Mark Ames ran in Russia. Taibbi explained that The Exile was a satirical look at young American expatriates living in Russia. But programs on NPR and commentary in the Washington Post accused Taibbi and Mark Ames of detailing mistreatment, sexual harassment and even assaults of their female staff and other young women.
A cash wine and beer bar will open at 7 pm. Books will be available for purchase and signing. Taibbi’s last appearance at The Mark Twain House & Museum sold out quickly.
The Mark Twain House & Museum is the restored Hartford, Connecticut home where American author Samuel Clemens — Mark Twain — and his family lived from 1874 to 1891. Twain wrote his most important works, including Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, during the years he lived there.
In addition to providing tours of Twain’s restored home, a National Historic Landmark, the institution offers activities and education programs that illuminate Twain’s literary legacy and provide information about his life and times.
The house and museum at 351 Farmington Avenue are open daily 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For more information, call 860-247-0998 or visit marktwainhouse.org. Programs at The Mark Twain House & Museum are made possible in part by support from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of the Arts and the Greater Hartford Arts Council’s United Arts Campaign.