LIVE from the NYPL: The Moth: Melissa Bank, Bliss Broyard, Ophira Eisenberg, Jeffrey Rudell & Josh Swiller, Paul Holdengräber, host

October 12, 2007

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Stories About Loss

"We lose therefore we are."

Humans lose their keys, limbs, minds, pets, political campains, objects of desire, hair, body fat, competitive advantages, cell phones, loved ones, temper, sense of purpose, and, in the end, their lives.

Join The Moth, New York?s premier storytelling organization as it returns for a LIVE from the NYPL evening to explore both heartbreaking and hilarious instances of this fundamental human experience.

6:30 pm Doors Open

7:30 pm Stories Start on Stage

 

Co-presented by the MOTH

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hosted by: Paul Holdengräber

Curated by: Meg Bowles

Featuring stories by:

Melissa Bank

Bliss Broyard

Ophira Eisenberg

Jefferey Rudell

Josh Swiller

and others!

Cellist: Catherine Bent

Artistic Director: Catherine Burns

Senior Producer: Sarah Austin Jenness

Curator and Producer: Jenifer Hixson

Program Manager: Marianne Gadeberg

Executive and Creative Director: Lea Thau

About the Storytellers:

About Melissa Bank

Melissa Bank is the author of The Wonder Spot and the best selling first-time short fiction collection, The Girl?s Guides to Hunting and Fishing. She was the winner of the 1993 Nelson Algren Award for short fiction and she has published stories in Zoetrope, The Chicago Tribune, The North American Review, Other Voices, and Ascent. Her work has been heard on "Selected Shorts" on National Public Radio and she is at work on a novel as well as a screenplay for The Girls' Guide. Bank holds an MFA from Cornell University, and lives in New York City.

 

  

 

About Bliss Broyard

Bliss Broyard is the author of the critically acclaimed family memoir One Drop My Father's Hidden Life--A Story of Race & Family Secrets, which was just released in September. Her fiction and essays have been anthologized in Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize Anthology and The Art of the Essay, and have appeared in Grand Street, Ploughshares, "O" Magazine, and Cookie. She is a frequent contributor to Elle Magazine and The New York Times Book Review. Bliss lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and daughter.

 

  

 

About Ophira Eisenberg

Ophira Eisenberg is a stand-up comic and has appeared on Comedy Central's Premium Blend and Fresh Faces of Comedy, VH-1's Best Week Ever and All Access, E! Channel's Top 100 Countdown and Discovery Channel's Lost Treasures of the Deep. Selected by Backstage as one of "10 Standout Stand-ups Worth Watching" in their Spotlight on Comedy issue, Ophira performs regularly at enowned comedy clubs across the country. She is the co-host and co-producer of the acclaimed weekly show Sweet Paprika (a Time Out New York Critic's Pick for comedy) at the D-Lounge in Union Square. Her writing is featured alongside that of Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock and Joan Rivers in the new Crown/Random House anthology I Killed: True Stories of the Road from America's Top Comics. She is also a regular comtributor for Us Weekly's Fashion Police.

  

About Jeffery Rudell

Jeffery Rudell is a graphic designer, writer and one of the founders of Hearsay; a storytelling workshop. He has won The Moth's Story Slam Championship (2003) and was recently featured on the National Storytelling Tour (2007). His work can be heard on The Moth CD's Audience Favorites Vol. I and Love Hurts. He lives in New York City with his partner Albert and dreams of finding a writing gig that will help pay his mortgage.
 

 

 

  

About Josh Swiller

Josh Swiller is the author of The Unheard: A Memoir of Deafness and Africa. He was born with moderate hearing loss and was deaf by age four. A graduate of Yale University, Swiller has had a wide variety of careers; forest ranger, carpenter, slipper salesman, raw food chef, Zen noviate, journalist, and teacher among other things. In August 2005, he had successful surgery for a cochlear implant and partially recovered his hearing. He now speaks often on issues facing mainstreamed deaf individuals, and currently works at a hospice in Brooklyn, New York.
 

 

   

About Paul Holdengräber (Host)


Paul Holdengräber is the Director of Public Programs now known as "LIVE from the NYPL" for The Research Libraries of The New York Public Library.
 

 

 

 

 

  

About Catherine Bent (Cellist)

Catherine Bent was born in England and has lived and worked and played in New York City for 15 years. As leader of the AXIS String Quartet, she has collaborated with jazz musicians Lee Konitz, Michael Hashim, and Rob Thomas among others. She has also put her talents to use in Cirque du Soleil?s Quidam, Dafnis Prieto's Absolute Quintet, Greg Osby?s Double Quartet, Palm Beach Opera, One World Symphony, John Cage's Ocean with Merce Cunningham, and Happy Hour Clowns? 9-minute Nutcracker at Dance Theater Workshop. Last week she appeared on SNL with Kanye West, in whose band she regularly plays. Currently, Catherine is pursuing a Masters in Jazz Performance at New England Conservatory.

About The MOTH

The Moth, a New York based non-profit arts organization dedicated to the art of storytelling, has been called New York's hottest and hippest literary ticket by The Wall Street Journal. The Moth features simple, old-fashioned storytelling on thoroughly modern themes by wildly divergent raconteurs. Past storytellers at The Moth have included Malcolm Gladwell, Ethan Hawke, Erica Jong, Frank McCourt, Moby, and George Plimpton as well as a VooDoo Priestess, an astronaut and hundreds more. In addition to its main stage, The Moth conducts six other programs including?The Moth StorySLAM, a competitive storytelling event, and The Moth Outreach Program, which conducts workshops for underserved teens and adults in rehabilitation programs and The Moth Story Tour which began in Los Angeles during 2006. The Moth has brought more than 2,000 live stories to over 60,000 audience members. www.themoth.org