Mark Twain, portrayed by Bob Anton, will appear at Peoria Public Library for one night only at the North Branch McKenzie Room on Monday, July 15 at 6:00 p.m. One of America’s most beloved authors comes to life as Bob Anton offers up an hour of quotes, sketches and stories.

A retired teacher who then became a steamboat captain, guiding the Spirit of Peoria and the Julia Belle Swain up and down the Illinois river, he has been portraying Mark Twain since the 1970s. This unique opportunity to see him on dry land will be enjoyed by all ages and is free. The audience will even have an opportunity to ask Mr. Twain questions.

The author who used the pen name Mark Twain, according to “Something About the Author,” a free database you can find at www.peoriapubliclibrary.org, was born November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri and died on April 21, 1910 in Redding, Connecticut. He was the son of John Marshall and Jane Lampton Clemens and was born as Samuel Clemens.

Clemens worked as a printer’s apprentice and typesetter in Hannibal, Missouri, as a riverboat pilot, reporter and editor, government worker and gold miner eventually becoming one of America’s literary icons. His works include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as well as The Prince and the Pauper and Innocents Abroad as well as many other novels and essays.

Mark Twain said, “Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” July is the perfect time to introduce your young readers to Mark Twain or rediscover him for yourself with this performance and some of his works.