Salman Rushdie News

NYU Skirball will present Elements of Oz, a live performance/augmented reality mash-up of theater, technology and pop culture that celebrates and deconstructs The Wizard of Oz, from the New York-based performance company, The Builders Association, on Saturday, December 7 and Sunday, December 8, 2019 at NYU Skirball. The MGM film is celebrating its 80th Anniversary as one of America's most beloved films (it opened on August 25, 1939). NYU Skirball will present Elements of Oz, a live performance/augmented reality mash-up of theater, technology and pop culture that celebrates and deconstructs The Wizard of Oz, from the New York-based performance company, The Builders Association, on Saturday, December 7 and Sunday, December 8, 2019 at NYU Skirball. The MGM film is celebrating its 80th Anniversary as one of America's most beloved films (it opened on August 25, 1939).

On Wednesday, October 16 at 7:30 pm the Folger Shakespeare Library's O.B. Hardison Poetry Series presents the Eudora Welty Lecture with best-selling author Jesmyn Ward at the National Press Club. Sponsored by the Eudora Welty Foundation, this annual lecture celebrates creative origins in the spirit of Welty's treasured One Writer's Beginnings. 

Building on the momentum of a powerful series of fall kick-off events, the Chicago Humanities Festival is excited to announce the full lineup for its 30th Fall Festival. Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus, author Jonathan Safran Foer, historian Ibram X. Kendi, comedian and The New York Times Magazine's a?oejudgea?? John Hodgman, poet Nikki Giovanni, Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins, and Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) will all be part of CHF's endeavor to explore Power this fall. Returning Festival favorites including poet and musician Patti Smith, novelist Salman Rushdie, and historian Sarah Vowell will return to Chicago this fall. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is this year's Chicago Tribune Literary Prize recipient.

Today's top writers are coming to Boston for a new series of author talks called American Inspiration. The series is produced by American Ancestors, the country's oldest genealogical institution, headquartered in Boston's Back Bay. American Inspiration presents best-selling authors and their latest books exploring themes of personal identity, families and immigration, and social and cultural history. Tickets for the fall season are on sale now.

The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica presents Close to Home: The Moth in Santa Monica on Friday, October 4 at 7:30pm. The evening, hosted by Jon Goode, will feature stories from Bushra Al-Fusail, Ruby Cooper, Samuel James, Omar Qureshi and Carol Spencer. From one night on a Georgia porch, The Moth grew into a global phenomenon with 52 million podcast downloads and almost 600 live events annually over six continents. The Moth storytelling series presents five raconteurs telling their true stories, live and without notes, in an evening full of entertainment and enlightenment. 

NYU Skirball will present Elements of Oz, a live performance/augmented reality mash-up of theater, technology and pop culture that celebrates and deconstructs The Wizard of Oz, from the New York-based performance company, The Builders Association, on Saturday, December 7 and Sunday, December 8, 2019 at NYU Skirball. The MGM film is celebrating its 80th Anniversary as one of America's most beloved films (it opened on August 25, 1939).

Australian/British author Kathy Lette returns to Australia for two stand up performances including an appearance at Just For Laughs Sydney.

Veteran programming executive Simran S. Sethi has been named to the newly created position of executive vice president, Development and Content Strategy for ABC Entertainment, it was announced today by Karey Burke, president of ABC Entertainment, to whom she will report.

Oprah Winfrey Network and OZY Media announced today the new series “OWN Spotlight: Black Women OWN the Conversation” to premiere on Saturday, August 24 at 10:00 pm ET/PT exclusively on OWN, with celebrities and thought leaders including rising star politician Stacey Abrams, model and activist Winnie Harlow, actresses Tina Lifford and Ryan Michelle Bathe, singer Monica, comedians Nicole Byer and Dulcé Sloan, California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, and more.

The National YoungArts Foundation (YoungArts) is proud to announce new creative and professional development opportunities for its network of 20,000 alumni—exceptionally talented artists across the visual, literary and performing arts. The organization's growing roster of programs to support artists throughout their careers includes YoungArts at Ted's, a new performance series that offers the public the chance to experience exceptional programs in an intimate setting, and Up Next Focus, an extension of the successful Up Next professional development program. Additionally, YoungArts announces that Yusha-Marie Sorzano (2000 Young Arts Winner in Dance) has been named the 2019 Dance Artist in Residence at the YoungArts Campus and Lee Pivnik (2014 YoungArts Winner in Visual Arts) is the next Bay Parc Apartments Resident Artist.

NYU Skirball's season opens on September 6, 2019 with the N.Y. premiere of JoAnne Akalaitis's BAD NEWS! i was therea??, a site-specific processional work performed throughout NYU Skirball's lobbies and backstage

The National YoungArts Foundation (YoungArts) announced that applications for the 2020 YoungArts competition will be accepted beginning today, June 4, through October 11, 2019 at youngarts.org/apply. Approximately 700 of the country's most accomplished 15- to 18-year-old artists will be selected through a blind adjudication process and provided with lifelong support through funding, mentorship, community, and creative and professional development opportunities.

The National YoungArts Foundation (YoungArts) congratulates the 55th class of U.S. Presidential Scholars, with special acknowledgement to the 20 U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts who are YoungArts winners. The U.S. Presidential Scholars award one of the nation's highest honors for high school students who exemplify academic excellence is presented on behalf of the President of the United States and honors up to 161 graduating high school seniors of high potential each year. The U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts (full list below) were nominated by YoungArts to The White House Commission on Presidential Scholars and selected based on academic and artistic excellence, leadership qualities and community service. For students who would like to be considered for this outstanding honor in the future, the YoungArts application opens on June 4, 2019 at youngarts.org/apply.

Alan Cumming said it quite accurately ….'I've known Frances (Ruffelle) for almost 30 years but she never ceases to surprise and amaze me with the ways she reinvents herself, finding new levels of expression and excellence, always with total commitment and her signature sensual passion. I cannot wait to see what she does next.'

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center is happy to announce the full line-up of its annual PEN World Voices International Play Festival. As part of the 2019 PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature, the International Play Festival presents play readings with some of the most significant theatre artists from Germany. All six playwrights are part of the Gorki Theater in Berlin-a safe haven for immigrant, refugee and international theatre artists in Europe. Legendary Artistic Director of the Gorki, Shermin Langhoff will join in conversation about their work. The Festival aims to enrich awareness of global dialogues, by bridging American audiences and international theatre-makers. All readings will be followed by discussion.

On Sunday, May 5, 2019 at 4:30pm, the Red Bank Chamber Music Society presents the American String Quartet in the world premiere of JUNO Award-winning Canadian composer Vivian Fung's String Quartet No. 4 'Insects and Machines.' The program also includes Beethoven's Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 74, 'Harp' and Brahms's String Quintet in G major, Op. 111 featuring one of the American String Quartet's top students from the Manhattan School of Music.

Pasadena Playhouse, State Theatre of California, continues their exciting partnerships with Caltech Theatre and the USC School of Dramatic Arts this Spring, with MACH 33: The Caltech|Pasadena Playhouse Festival of New Science Driven Plays, presented by Caltech Theater and Pasadena Playhouse May 9 -11 and the New Works Festival Year 3 May 17-18, presented by USC School of Dramatic Arts and hosted by Pasadena Playhouse. These plays are part of Playhouse community programming. Danny Feldman is the Producing Artistic Director of Pasadena Playhouse.

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), the nation's premier orchestra dedicated exclusively to commissioning, performing, and recording new orchestral music, presents the Boston premiere of Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Charles Wuorinen with libretto by James Feon, based on the novel by Salman Rushdie. Led by Artistic Director and Conductor Gil Rose, this semi-staged opera features performances by BMOP and special guest soprano Heather Buck.

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), the nation's premier orchestra dedicated exclusively to commissioning, performing, and recording new orchestral music, presents the Boston premiere of Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Charles Wuorinen with libretto by James Fenton, based on the novel by Salman Rushdie.  Led by Artistic Director and Conductor Gil Rose, this semi-staged opera features performances by BMOP and special guest soprano Heather Buck.