August 13, 2018

Contact: Lynn Cullivan, 415-561-7006

SAN FRANCISCO, CA –

One of America’s greatest novels, Moby-Dick speaks to race and racism, sexual identity, fate and destiny, environmental degradation, power and powerlessness, madness and obsession, faith and doubt, love and friendship, and writing and imagination. It reflects and refracts society, culture, and the human condition, and so remains a powerful text full of ways to discover oneself, and one’s place in the world.

On Saturday, October 13, 2018, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park hosts a 24-hour Moby Dick reading marathon in the Maritime Museum at 900 Beach Street, San Francisco. Surrounded by aquatic-themed WPA murals, and overlooking the Aquatic Park Pier and Cove, a diverse crew of over 100 will add their own voices to Melville’s musings, orations, and unforgettable characters.

This literary event is free to both readers and audience members, but performers wishing to read specific chapters should reserve their space in the line-up ASAP by checking the signup sheet at https://maritime.org/events/mobydick/ and then emailing sfmobydickmarathon@gmail.com with their top three choices. More Marathon information is available at https://www.sfmobydickmarathon.org

The 2018 Moby Dick Marathon is co-sponsored by The Melville Society, an organization dedicated to the study and appreciation of the nineteenth-century American author Herman Melville, and the San Francisco Maritime National Park Association, a park partner which has brought maritime history to life for over sixty-five years.

San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, located at the west end of Fisherman’s Wharf, includes a fleet of historic ships, Visitor Center, Maritime Museum, Maritime Research Center, and the Aquatic Park Historic District. For more information, please call 415-447-5000 or visit nps.gov/safr, Twitter @SFMaritimeNPS, and Facebook @SanFranciscoMaritimeNHP. San Francisco Maritime