In September 2010, I spent a good deal of time in Prague visiting places associated with Czech playwright, dissident and President Václav Havel – who would have been 90 today. Indeed, I was fortunate enough to see Havel up close on this visit as I had coffee in the tiny café
It is a rainy blustery Sunday in Philadelphia, and one hopes that is not the last one in the centuries of The Academy of Natural Sciences' public-facing story. But the lack of an immediate YES to the William Penn Foundation's extraordinary offer of support to keep
My latest post on ZONA MOTEL is a conversation with Nashville-based songwriter Paul Burch about the town where he lives and works, as well as his 2016 record, MERIDIAN RISING, and a novel of the same name that he published with the University of Georgia press. Both versions of
Last week, I published a review of Unruly Revolutionary – Mitchell Abidor's recent biography of Victor Serge – at Zona Motel. The explosion of interest in Serge's writing over the past 30 years has cried out for a comprehensive biography. Spoiler: My conclusion is that this isn'
Listen to the FREE Congressman Davy radio play! Purchase the soundtrack (CD/ digital) at Bandcamp!
Congressman Davy – the new musical I have written with Dean Schlabowske about Davy Crockett's political rise and fall – has had a long journey. I started to write Congressman Davy in 2014. Finished a first complete draft of book and lyrics in 2018. Dean finished the bulk of the
It is a very exciting day for this dramatist. And for any subscriber to Stage Write involved as a performer or supporter in my latest project. The soundtrack to Congressman Davy – a musical I have written with Dean Schlabowske of the Waco Brothers – is out today on CD, as a
It was more than a bit of a thrill to find a new review of Beauty Doesn't Reach Me (We Heard You Like Books) in my email today. Chris Oxley's piece on the book at Zona Motel looks at Beauty Doesn't Reach Me with
My new book, Beauty Doesn’t Reach Me, examines the journey of antifascist playwright Ernst Toller’s death mask from the hands of its maker to the collection at the Leo Baeck Institute in New York City. Along the way, a new window into the anti-comic book crusade of
Neil Denny's Little Atoms podcast is one of the best places to check in on the latest intellectual currents in literature, science, art and politics. It is always terrific to see writers whom you know there: George Saunders discussing his new book, Vigil, or Laura Lippman talking about
This is the fourth and final essay in a series written to coincide with the publication of Beauty Doesn’t Reach Me (We Heard You Like Books). Order a copy now. One of the things I discovered quickly as I started to research the death mask of antifascist playwright and
This is the third in a series of essays written to coincide with the publication of Beauty Doesn’t Reach Me (We Heard You Like Books). Order a copy now. My new book, Beauty Doesn’t Reach Me, would not exist without Florence “Hesketh” Wertham. Hesketh – who preferred to be