Author Nicholas A. Basbanes was recently recognized by the Massachusetts Center for the Book as one of Massachusetts's must-read authors of the year. Join Basbanes for a presentation on his critically acclaimed book, Cross of Snow: A Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, via Zoom.

About The Book: In Cross of Snow, the result of more than twelve years of research, including access to never-before-examined letters, diaries, journals, notes, Nicholas Basbanes reveals the life, the times, the work, and the soul of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -- the man who shaped the literature of a new nation with his countless poems, sonnets, stories, essays, translations, and whose renown was so wide-reaching that his deep friendships included Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Julia Ward Howe, and Oscar Wilde.

Basbanes writes of the shaping of Longfellow's character, his huge body of work that included translations of numerous foreign works, among them, the first rendering into a complete edition by an American of Dante's Divine Comedy. We see Longfellow's two marriages, both happy and contented, each cut short by tragedy. His first to Mary Storer Potter that ended in the aftermath of a miscarriage, leaving Longfellow devastated. His second marriage to the brilliant Boston socialite--Fanny Appleton, after a three-year pursuit by Longfellow, and his emergence as a literary force and a man of letters.

About The Author: Nicholas A. Basbanes, a Lowell native, is an award-winning investigative journalist and was literary editor of the Worcester Sunday Telegram. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Smithsonian. He is the author of eight books. Basbanes lives in North Grafton. Learn more about Basbanes HERE.

Register HERE. Presented in collaboration with a number of Massachusetts libraries.