The Richards Free Library proudly announces best-selling Maine author, Monica Wood, as the recipient of the 2024 Sarah Josepha Hale Award. Monica Wood is an award-winning novelist, memoirist and playwright. Originally from Mexico, Maine, her writing tells character-driven stories about life-changing events. Wood was awarded the 2019 Constance Carlson Prize for contributions to the public humanities in Maine; and the 2018… Read more Monica Wood to Accept the 2024 Hale Award
Hale Award
Summer 2023 Community Read: Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
To prepare for Chris Bohjalian’s arrival in Newport in September for the Hale Award, we’re reading his novel Midwives! Stop by the library to check out one of our 25 copies of the book and join us for a book discussion! We have three discussions on the calendar and you’re welcome to pick one or… Read more Summer 2023 Community Read: Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
Chris Bohjalian to Accept the 2023 Sarah Hale Award
Richards Free Library and the Judges of the Sarah Josepha Hale award are pleased to announce that Chris Bohjalian is the 2023 Sarah Josepha Hale Award Medalist. He will accept the award on September 23, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. at the Newport Opera House. Bestselling novelist Chris Bohjalian uses his hugely popular novels to explore… Read more Chris Bohjalian to Accept the 2023 Sarah Hale Award
Sarah Hale on Thanksgiving
In her 1827 novel Northwood, Sarah Hale explains that the first Thanksgiving was to celebrate the arrival of a ship from England laden with provisions at a time when the early settlers of Boston were nearly out of food. Read more Sarah Hale on Thanksgiving
Sarah Josepha Hale 1788-1879
Gentle Crusader: New Hampshire’s Sarah Josepha Hale by Judith Freeman Clark Throughout the 19th century, most Americans viewed proponents of equal opportunity for women as lunatics or anarchists bent on destroying polite society. In such a society women were generally tied to domestic responsibilities, and their educational and professional choices were severely limited by virtue… Read more Sarah Josepha Hale 1788-1879
