Kathryn Graven will talk about her first book, Memoirs of a Mask Maker. “Memoirs” is the moving story of how a 5-year-old girl navigates deep loss after a tragic car accident leaves her motherless. Charting a life of tending grief and reclaiming joy, “Memoirs” honors the women who helped the girl stitch together a beautiful life - a grandmother, a neighbor and a pharmacist in Japan. Years later, when the global pandemic raged, Kathryn Graven responded by sewing hundreds of colorful masks. Making masks tapped into all she had learned about filling a void and building resilience. These lessons are even more relevant as we take off our masks and face the challenges of a post-pandemic world.

Kathryn Graven is a writer, mixed-media artist, musician and lifelong sewer. During the summer, she lives on Great Cranberry Island, Maine. Passionate about sharing and preserving the bounty of her garden, she makes delicious jams and irresistible pickles. Fluent in Japanese, she began her journalism career in Tokyo at the ABC News Bureau, and then became a Tokyo correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. In the U.S., she reported for the WSJ from New York and Boston, and taught international business reporting at Boston University. Pivoting to a new career, Kathryn studied mixed-media art and founded Studio 319 in Boston. She shows her art in open studios and participates in solo and group art events.