Media contact: Tracy Fernbacher, admissions@waldorf.org, (718) 490-7552
Stockbridge, MA, April 13, 15, 2015 – Stone Court Writer-in-Residence Snowden Wright will read from his work on Saturday, May 9, at 3 p.m., at Edith Wharton’s home, The Mount, in Lenox, MA. The reading is open to the public, free of charge, and cosponsored by the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, the Berkshire Waldorf High School, the Stockbridge Library Museum and Archives, and The Mount. There will be refreshments.
Wright hails from Oxford, Mississippi. He holds a BA in Creative Writing from Dartmouth College and an MFA in Fiction Writing from Columbia University. His nonfiction work has been published in Salon, TheAtlantic.com, Nerve, The Morning News, Freerange Nonfiction, Thought Catalog, The Good Men Project, Esquire.com, Bookslut, The Millions, and the New York Daily News. His fiction has been published in Dark Sky, The Rumpus, TheLMagazine.com, Emprise Review, elimae, and Vol. 1 Brooklyn. Wright was the 2012 recipient of the Summer Literary Seminar’s Graywolf Prize for best novel excerpt.
From a young age, Wright has been an avid reader, and early realized that he wanted to write stories like the ones he read. He began his first novel in second grade, a story, by his own account, that was “a terrible book.” He wrote little in high school but elected to major in creative writing as an undergraduate at Dartmouth College. Wright also calls his thesis novel a “terrible book.” Ten years later, when he next stood in the room in which he had given a reading from his thesis novel, however, it was to read from his first published novel, Play Pretty Blues, a fictional account of the blues musician Robert Johnson, told from the perspective of Johnson’s six surviving wives. Will Allison, author of Long Drive Home, says, “Wright’s fervent, musical prose captures the very essence of the blues. [This is] a work of extraordinary imagination and soul.”
The Stone Court Writer-In-Residence is in its inaugural year and is co-sponsored by the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation and the Berkshire Waldorf High School. The Stone Court Writer-In-Residence program offers two 12-week residencies, one beginning in September and one beginning in February. It provides emerging writers the freedom, time, and material support to concentrate on their creative work. Further, it is focused on bringing to the Berkshire Hills in Western Massachusetts young writers who represent diverse American voices, particularly those from other regions of the United States. Finally, it is structured to permit the writer to contribute to the community by leading a creative writing “master class” at the Berkshire Waldorf High School and offering community readings of his or her work.
David McCarthy, Chair of the selection committee, notes: “We were fortunate to receive a large number of excellent submissions for this residency. Among those, Snowden Wright stood out to the entire committee. His work was beautifully written and reflects a maturity that impressed us all. He is a wonderful new voice in our community.”
Stephen Sagarin, Faculty Chair at the Waldorf High School, said, “Snowden Wright and the Stone Court residency allow our students to see beyond their lives in the Berkshires, to get to know the minds and voices of those from different parts of our country, and to improve their skill in creative writing.”
A student reading of work from the creative writing workshop of Snowen Wright will held Wednesday, May 13 at 7:30pm at the Berkshire Waldorf High School, 14 Pine Street, Stockbridge, MA. The reading is free and open to the public.
About: Located around the corner from Norman Rockwell’s famous Main Street in Stockbridge, MA, the Berkshire Waldorf High School is a co-educational, college preparatory school for 9th through 12th graders providing education that seeks truth, develops imagination, nurtures growth, fosters responsibility and honors inner freedom. A better than 2:1 ratio of students to faculty creates an atmosphere of academic excellence, artistic fulfillment, openness and mutual respect, with a mission to be affordable to all admitted students, including homeschoolers. www.waldorfhigh.org
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Interviews and high-resolution images are available. To schedule an interview, please contact Tracy Fernbacher, admissions@waldorf.org. cell (718) 490-7552.