The Hudson Valley Writers Center announced that Pulitzer Prize-winning and bestselling author Stacy Schiff and Charles Moore, Program Director of Rehabilitation Through the Arts, will headline the Hudson Valley Writers Center Gala on Friday, September 20th. The gala will take place at the center’s national landmark building overlooking the Hudson in Sleepy Hollow.
The non-profit Hudson Valley Writers Center offers over 200 in-person and virtual programs a year to support a diverse community of readers and writers at every stage of their creative development: for example, fiction, essay and memoir writing classes, an award winning reading series, new programs including a master class series in book publishing, a Writers Express Youth Afterschool Program, college essay writing and SAT preparation, community outreach programs which offer free writing instruction to children and adults throughout the community. (see below).
“Honoring Stacy Schiff, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, and Charles Moore, Program Director of Rehabilitation Through the Arts signifies our focus on two areas: expanding our programming into many genres and working with partners who share our belief in the transformative power of the arts,” says Hudson Valley Writers Center Board Chair Mary Linder. “At a time when language is more critical than ever, it’s exciting to find new avenues and opportunities to bring literature, in its many forms, to all who value and benefit from it.”
Gala honoree Stacy Schiff has been praised as much for her writing and brilliant storytelling as she is for her eye-opening history. Through her books and appearances, she brings to life some of history’s most enigmatic personalities. Her works include Vera (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov-winner of the Pulitzer Prize), Cleopatra: A Life, The Witches: Salem, 1692, A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America —the basis for the recent Apple TV+ series starring Michael Douglas, and her most recent The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams. She lives in NYC and Pound Ridge.
Charles Moore is the Director of Programs & Operations for Rehabilitation Through the Arts, an organization that helps people in prison develop critical life skills through the arts — theater, dance, music, visual arts and creative writing. He oversees program planning and management in all the facilities where RTA operates. Moore holds a Bachelor’s degree in Human Services from Mercy University and a Master’s in Professional Studies from New York Theological Seminary. Rehabilitation Through the Arts demonstrates that an approach based on human dignity is vastly more successful than one based on punishment. Less than 3% of RTA members return to prison compared to the national recidivism rate of 60%. The program was the inspiration behind the widely praised recent film Sing Sing starring Colman Domingo and an ensemble cast of formerly incarcerated actors. https://rta-arts.org/about-us/
Local musician Drew Bordeaux will perform. A treasure trove of goods and services for the HVWC Silent Auction can be bid on here.
