Press Release

Contact: Susan Coleman
Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
145 Ednam Drive Charlottesville, VA
22903-4629
434-982-2983 (phone)
434-296-4714 (fax)
spcoleman@virginia.edu
For Immediate Release

David Baldacci to host
“Words and Music with
Barbara Kingsolver and John McCutcheon”

Virginia Author David Baldacci will be the host of the benefit, “Words and Music with Barbara Kingsolver and John McCutcheon.”   Tickets to the benefit scheduled for Sunday, March 26, 4 pm, at the Charlottesville’s Paramount Theater are available at the Paramount’s Box Office at 434-979-1333.  Proceeds will support the VFH Center for the Book and its book and literacy programs, which include the Virginia Festival of the Book, Motheread® and Fatheread®, Letters About Literature, All America Reads, and the Virginia Arts of the Book Center.

David Baldacci is the author of 12 books, including his most recent thriller, The Camel Club.  Well known for his advocacy of reading, Baldacci will publish this spring his second children’s book, Freddy and the French Fries: the Mystery of Silas Finkelbean. 

Barbara Kingsolver’s first book, The Bean Trees, was published in 1988, followed by several works of fiction and nonfiction.  Her novel The Poisonwood Bible earned accolades at home and abroad, including the National Book Prize of South Africa.  It was a finalist for the Pulitzer and PEN/Faulkner awards, and was an Oprah's Book Club selection.  In 2000, Barbara was awarded the National Humanities Medal, our nation's highest honor for service through the humanities.

John McCutcheon’s 24 recordings have garnered numerous honors, including five Grammy nominations.  He is a music producer, songwriter, author, teacher, and is in wide demand internationally as a concert performer. His newest CD, Mightier Than the Sword, includes the track “Our Flag Was Still There,” co-written with Kingsolver, and based on her essay first published in her book of essays, Small Wonder.  Each of the fourteen tracks on the CD were co-written or inspired by writers such as Lee Smith, Wendell Berry, Rita Dove, Carmen Agra Deedy, Dead Man Walking’s Sr. Helen Prejean, Woody Guthrie, Pablo Neruda, and José Martí.  The benefit also will be a reunion for McCutcheon and the CD’s musicians, who will be playing together for the first time since the recording.

“We are thrilled to have Barbara and John, who are long-time friends, supporting our work so generously,” said Susan Coleman, director of the Center for the Book. “This will be a once-in-a-lifetime event that will entertain book and music lovers and will have a lasting impact on our book and reading programs.” 
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