One of the world’s best known live readings of Herman Melville’s iconic American novel Moby Dick returns to the New Bedford Whaling Museum, January 5-7. The 22nd annual Moby Dick Marathon will draw readers and enthusiasts from around the globe to the Museum’s campus and to the livestream reading online. Obsessive literary aficionados, local school children, and everyone in between, will travel back in time to accompany narrator, Ishmael, on the epic whaling journey and hunt for the elusive white whale. The Whaling Museum has marked the anniversary of Melville’s 1841 departure from the Port of New Bedford and Fairhaven aboard the whaleship, Acushnet, with this mid-winter tradition since 1995. Melville would later pen Moby Dick, publishing the famous novel in 1851. Moby Dick Marathon weekend features the main 25-hour readathon - fueled by caffeine, warm local soups, theatrical performances, and a fondness for the author’s artistry – as well as two mini-marathons on January 6: a Portuguese-language reading of Tiago Patricio’s abridged Moby Dick; and a children’s version by Classic Starts.

WHERE: New Bedford Whaling Museum, 18 Johnnycake Hill, New Bedford
WHEN: Friday, Jan 5 through Sunday, Jan. 7. See website for full schedule.
COST: Free
MORE INFO: whalingmuseum.org