FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Steve Courtney, 860-247-0998, Ext. 243
steve.courtney@marktwainhouse.org
THE MARK TWAIN HOUSE & MUSEUM TO PRESENT ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME EVENT ON OCTOBER 19TH IN NEW HAVEN: MARK MY WORDS – AN EVENING WITH DAVID BALDACCI, JOHN GRISHAM AND JODI PICOULT
Community Activist Malaak Compton-Rock to Moderate Far-ranging Conversation at Woolsey Hall with Blockbuster Authors
In his latest book, Hell’s Corner, David Baldacci explores issues of modern-day terrorism, trust and passion in the intricate world of Washington politics. In her upcoming work, Sing You Home, Jodi Picoult explores the ethical issues of reproductive science and and what it means to be gay in a world where a once-hidden love is becoming a fact of family. In his current legal thriller, The Confession, John Grisham portrays a criminal who got away with rape and murder confronted with the choice to save the innocent man about to be executed for these crimes.
It’s these kinds of stories – tales that these three major figures of American fiction can weave with skill and grace – that keep their dozens of books in print, and keep readers enthralled and eagerly awaiting the next novel. Their books in print right now number more than 400 million. And all three have drawn strength from one of the giants of American literature – Mark Twain.
In an unprecedented event that unites three #1 New York Times bestselling authors, The Mark Twain House & Museum will present Mark My Words: An Evening with David Baldacci, Jodi Picoult and John Grisham on Wednesday, October 19, at 8:00 p.m. at Yale University’s Woolsey Hall in New Haven, Connecticut. In a wide-ranging conversation moderated by community activist Malaak Compton-Rock, the three will tell of their writing lives and convey the influence Twain had upon their work.
No doubt the discussion will take on additional intrigue this year, with the recent publication of Twain’s own bestselling blockbuster, Autobiography of Mark Twain: Volume I: the book the famed author didn’t want published until 100 years after his death. Twain’s Autobiography currently sits on the New York Times Bestseller List for Hardcover Non-Fiction, while Baldacci’s Hell’s Corner and Grisham’s The Confession hold spots on the Hardcover Fiction list. Baldacci’s Deliver Us from Evil and Picoult’s House Rules, both 2010 No. 1 Hardcover bestsellers, are currently charting in the Top Ten on the Paperback Mass-Market Fiction and Paperback Trade Fiction lists, respectively.
The event will be moderated by another extraordinary figure: Malaak Compton-Rock, the distinguished founder and leader of many philanthropic efforts on behalf of fighting poverty, empowering women seeking to get off welfare, and giving youngsters from tough neighborhoods a chance to perform international service. With her husband, the actor Chris Rock, she runs The Angelrock Project South Africa, a trust that provides assistance to people living with HIV/AIDS. An author herself, Ms. Compton-Rock released her inspirational If It Takes a Village, Build One in 2010.
Mark Twain House & Museum Executive Director Jeffrey Nichols states, “We are thrilled to bring this evening of conversation to Yale’s historic Woolsey Hall. A centuries-old destination for writers and thinkers, Yale is the perfect setting for this once-in-a-lifetime evening. It is particularly ideal as the University gave Twain not one, but two honorary degrees. I look forward to joining these amazing authors for an unforgettable night for book-lovers.”
To make this event affordable to all the authors’ many fans, tickets for this major event are moderately priced at $25, $45, and $65. All proceeds support the programs of The Mark Twain House & Museum. Tickets can be obtained at shubert.com or by calling 800-228-6622. Woolsey Hall is at 500 College Street (at Grove), New Haven, Connecticut. Additional information is available at www.marktwainhouse.org.
An informational website, twainmarkmywords.com will be launched in March. Created by East Hartford’s ForeSite Technologies, the site will include event news and information about the authors, venue, parking, directions, and more. The Study at Yale is the official hotel of Mark My Words. With its literary theme, this boutique hotel in the heart of New Haven will be the perfect place for out-of-towners to stay when they attend the lecture program. For information about The Study at Yale, located at 1157 Chapel Street, visit studyhotels.com or call 203-503-3900.
Mark My Words – An Evening with David Baldacci, John Grisham and Jodi Picoult is sponsored in part by Nestle Waters North America with additional support provided by Triple Frog of Middletown, Connecticut.
Each of the three writers has a tale to tell – or rather, many tales:
--David Baldacci burst upon the literary scene in 1996 with Absolute Power, his story of Presidential corruption and cover-up that eerily predicted a Monica Lewinsky-style scandal. It was the first of seventeen national and international bestsellers (and later became a major motion picture starring Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman). His works have been published worldwide in magazines, newspapers, journals, and other publications, and he has authored seven original screenplays. His books have been translated into more than 45 languages and sold in more than 80 countries.
And he has an abiding love for Mark Twain’s Hartford, Connecticut, home, which is restored and maintained by The Mark Twain House & Museum. ”Walking through his house in Hartford one can feel the greatness of the man, the timeliness of his work, the genius of his craft, both as writer and orator,” Baldacci writes. “…Mark Twain is still leading the way with his universal themes and witticisms that are as spot-on today as they were when he wrote them. When we celebrate Twain, a fully independent man who wrote his way from humble beginnings to worldwide fame, we, in essence, celebrate America.”
--Jodi Picoult started off as a technical writer for a Wall Street brokerage firm, a copywriter at an ad agency, an editor at a textbook publisher, and an eighth grade English teacher and was pregnant with her first child that she wrote her first novel, Songs of the Humpback Whale. Sixteen more bestsellers followed. Her stories mix romance, thriller fiction and social commentary in deeply appealing ways. “Picoult writes with unassuming brilliance,” says Stephen King. She has won dozens of writing awards, and was proud to learn that her My Sister’s Keeper was named on a recent American Library Association’s Top Ten List of books most frequently challenged in complaints filed with libraries and schools. “I’m in great company,” she Tweeted – company that, of course, has often included Mark Twain.
"When I think of the quintessential American writer who balanced social commentary with commercial fiction, I think of Mark Twain,” Picoult says. “Years later, I'm still just following in his footsteps. It's an honor to be asked to support the Mark Twain House - and its legacy - in the company of some of the greatest writers of this generation."
--John Grisham had been practicing law for four years in the early 1980s when he decided to take a stab at writing a novel, inspired in part by the harrowing testimony of a 12-year-old rape victim. That was A Time to Kill, but it was his second book, The Firm, that took off. This story of a young lawyer offered what seems to be a dream job by a major firm – a dream that turns into nightmare – captivated readers who eagerly devoured the 21 books that followed. He has turned his phenomenal success into generosity. His Rebuild the Coast fund raised $8.3 million for Hurricane Katrina relief – and he now supports The Mark Twain House & Museum by his participation in Mark My Words.
“We moved a lot when I was a kid, throughout the deep South,” he told an interviewer. “We would always go to a new town and go to the library, get our library cards and load up with books.” Among those books, he has said, were “lots of Mark Twain and Dickens.”
--Malaak Compton-Rock is known for her work with UNICEF (The United Nations Children's Fund). She organized styleWORKS, an organization that provides comprehensive grooming services to women moving from welfare to work. In 2008, she founded The Angelrock Project, an online e-village that promotes volunteerism, social responsibility, and sustainable change. She started Journey for Change: Empowering Youth Through Global Service, a program that takes at-risk youth from Brooklyn, N.Y., to Johannesburg, South Africa for two weeks of global volunteer service. With her husband, Chris Rock, Compton-Rock runs The Angelrock Project South Africa, a trust that provides assistance to orphaned and vulnerable children, granny-led households and people living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa.
The Mark Twain House & Museum has restored the author’s Hartford, Connecticut, home, where the author and his family lived from 1874 to 1891. Twain wrote his most important works during the years he lived there, including Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. In addition to providing tours of Twain’s restored home, a National Historic Landmark, the institution offers activities and educational programs that illuminate Twain’s literary legacy and provide information about his life and times.
The house and museum at 351 Farmington Ave. are open Monday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., and Sunday, noon-5:30 p.m. (Closed Tuesdays, January to March.) For more information, call 860-247-0998 or visit www.marktwainhouse.org.
Programs at The Mark Twain House & Museum are made possible in part by support from the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism and the Greater Hartford Arts Council.