09/01/2026
MARK TWAIN BOYHOOD HOME & MUSEUM PRESENTS A SPECIAL EVENING WITH AUTHOR ADAM NELSON AND THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF HUCKLEBERRY JIM
Publishers Weekly’s BookLife Reviews named Huckleberry Jim an Editor’s Pick, calling it “an incisive, provocative, and robustly American debut” that “honors the fathoms-deep American divisions that Twain marked and urges us to look closer rather than away.”
Join us October 10 as we welcome author Adam Nelson to Hannibal for a special evening celebrating Huckleberry Jim.
Inspired by Nelson’s own experience touring a children’s production of Huckleberry Finn to middle schools, the novel takes us back to 1991.
Rodney King. Anita Hill. Desert Storm. David Duke. The culture wars. America is arguing over race, language, history—and what children should be allowed to read and hear.
Two actors climb into a beat-up Chrysler Imperial and take a stripped-down, two-man Huckleberry Finn into schools across upstate New York and Appalachia. Soon, the argument inside Twain’s book, between the two men, and outside the auditorium become impossible to separate.
Nelson is a professor, author, filmmaker and communications executive whose career began as a professional actor in New York theater.
Huckleberry Jim publishes October 6 during Banned Books Week, in America’s 250th year and the 150th anniversary of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
Join us where the world of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn began.
The event is free to attend, however seating is limited. Advance ticket reservation is required. Please contact the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum at 573-221-9010 to reserve a ticket.
📍 Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum, 120 N. Main Street, Hannibal. MO
📅 October 10, 2026
