Something to Tweet About: Yaddo Celebrates Rick Moody

 
Saratoga Springs, NY (April 29, 2010) – Popular author, singer, songwriter, and blogger Rick Moody will be the featured performer at this year's Summer Benefit, to be held June 17th at the Yaddo Mansion in Saratoga Springs.

Moody, one of the most celebrated American writers of his generation, will entertain with a new short story – "Some Contemporary Characters" – written entirely in 140-character segments. It was originally offered as a Twitter feed for the online publication Electric Literature, spread out over the course of three days into 153 tweets. In interviews, he has likened the process of creating a story in tweet form to writing Haiku.

Moody's work includes four novels: Garden State, The Ice Storm, Purple America, and The Diviners; three collections of short fiction, The Ring of Brightest Angels Around Heaven, Demonology, and Right Livelihoods; and a memoir, The Black Veil. His honors include the Pushcart Editor's Choice award for his first novel, Garden State, and the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for the Art of the Memoir for The Black Veil. Director Ang Lee adapted his bestselling 1994 novel, The Ice Storm, into a feature film starring Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, and Toby Maguire. Moody's interest in writing is equally matched by his passion for music. A founding member of The Wingdale Community Singers, Moody also writes about music as a regular contributor to the online magazine, The Rumpus. He lives in Brooklyn and on Fishers Island with his wife, Amy Osborn, and their daughter, Hazel. Moody is a Member of The Corporation of Yaddo. His latest novel, The Four Fingers of Death, is forthcoming in July.

Thanks to the generosity of the Capital Region community and the hard work of the organizing committees, the event's expenses are traditionally kept to a minimum, allowing more than 90 percent of the benefit proceeds to go directly to Yaddo's artists' residency program. The 2010 committee chairs are Tamie Ehinger, Claudia Olsen, and Anne Palamountain.

A special feature of this year's fundraiser will be a silent auction, open to everyone in attendance and offering a select group of unique items for bid. The program begins at 8 p.m. and will be followed by a party. Silent auction bids will be accepted prior to the program and up until 10 p.m. Individual reservations are $150 (Patron), $175 (Special Patron), and $200 (Honorary Patron). Sponsorships with special incentives, including an invitation to a pre-event cocktail reception in a private area of the Yaddo Mansion, start at $600. Click here to see the sponsorship benefits. To purchase reservations online now, click here for a link to a secure page. For additional information, contact Lynn Farenell (mailto:lfarenell@yaddo.org or 518.584.0746).