HARTFORD, Conn. -- Writers Read for Twain is an effort officials at the Mark Train house started to help save the house from closing.

The event, held Tuesday night, featured almost a dozen authors from across the country that want to help save the cash-strapped museum.

The state provides the house with $60,000 annually, but its budget calls for about $3 million.

“I can remember being a little girl and reading ‘Tom Sawyer’ and desperately wanting to be Becky Thatcher, which is probably something I shouldn’t admit in public, but there it is,” said Tasha Alexander, the author of four best-selling books. “I think Twain is one of the quintessential American writers, and American culture can be so, can seem so void sometimes. It’s so important, I think, that we preserve our literary history.”

She said she came out from Chicago because the possibility that the Mark Twain house could close is difficult to imagine.

WFSB has teamed up with the Twain House to help raise the necessary funds. To make a donation, visit the Mark Twain House online.