EXPERT ADVISORY: 175th Anniversary of the Birth of Author Mark Twain  

This week marks the 175th anniversary of Mark Twain’s birthday. Twain was born in Missouri on Nov. 30, 1835, as Samuel Langhorne Clemens. He adopted the pen name Mark Twain in 1863.  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, considered by many to be the Great American Novel, published in 1885, is one of the most frequently challenged books in the United States.

EXPERT AVAILABLE: Melissa Scholes Young teaches college writing and creative writing at American University. She grew up in the shadow of Twain in Hannibal, Missouri, the boyhood hometown of Twain. Her debut novel, FLOOD (Center Street), has strong ties to Twain’s work, not only geographically, but thematically as well. A story about escaping and returning, set against the backdrop of the rising Mississippi, this atmospheric, contemporary narrative was a finalist for the James Jones First Novel Fellowship.

Scholes Young is available to discuss the legacy of Mark Twain as an American author, how his novels have been perceived over time and much more.