Hannibal: living in the shadow of Twain

KBIA | By Davis Dunavin

Published December 5, 2011 at 6:16 PM CST

A view of Hannibal on a sleepy fall day, as seen from Cardiff Hill.

Last week marked the 176th birthday of the man who many feel defined American literature. Since his 1910 death, the city of Hannibal in northeastern Missouri has become a mecca for those who appreciate Mark Twain's work - one of the few places in the world that center on literary tourism. But it's still a city - and a small town in Missouri, at that. As part of Word Missouri, a series examining Missouri's literary heritage, KBIA's Davis Dunavin went to Hannibal to explore how aficionados, experts, tourists and residents live in the shadow of Twain.

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Davis Dunavin

Davis Dunavin grew up in the bootheel of Missouri and worked for the Southeast Missourian and Off! Magazine before moving to New York City in 2006, where he worked as a freelance writer and a bookstore clerk. He's a Masters student in Journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and served as a Convergence Journalism teaching assistant at KBIA before launching the Word Missouri project in August. He lives in Columbia with his wife Elizabeth, coincidentally also a bookstore clerk and organizer of the Cold Reading poetry series at Get Lost Bookshop in downtown Columbia. When he's not there, he can sometimes be found leading a double life as a street musician.

See stories by Davis Dunavin