To celebrate the bicentennial of author Nathaniel Hawthorne's birth, Minute Man National Visitors Center held a panel discussion about Hawthorne as part of the Concord Festival of Authors. The panelists played the parts of Nathaniel Hawthorne's writing contemporaries and his family members, describing happenings and answering audience members' questions in the manner of the person portrayed. Each of them is also a biographer of his or her subject. Mr. Buell, the author of Emerson, was Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ms. Marshal, the author of The Peabody Sisters, portrayed the Peabody sisters. Ms. Robertson-Lorant, author of Melville: A Biography was Melville. Mr. Calhoun, author of Longfellow: A Rediscovered Life was Longfellow.