826 NYC

• http://www.826nyc.org
• 826NYC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6-18 with their
  creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. Our services are structured around our belief that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success. With this in mind we provide drop-in tutoring, field trips, after-school workshops, in-schools tutoring, help for English language learners, and assistance with student publications. All of our free programs are challenging and enjoyable, and ultimately strengthen each student's power to express ideas effectively, creatively, confidently, and in his or her individual voice.
  
  About the performers:
  
  During his distinguished career Paul Simon has been the recipient of many honors and awards
  including 12 Grammy Awards, three of which (“Bridge Over Troubled Water”, “Still Crazy After
  All These Years” and “Graceland”) were albums of the year. In 2003 he was given a Grammy
  Lifetime Achievement Award for his work as half of the duo Simon and Garfunkel. He is an
  inductee of The Songwriters Hall of Fame and is in the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame both as a
  member of Simon and Garfunkel and as a solo artist. His song “Mrs. Robinson” from the motion
  picture The Graduate was named in the top ten of The American Film Institute's 100 Years 100
  Songs. He was a recipient of The Kennedy Center Honors in 2003 and was named as one of Time
  Magazine's “100 People Who Shape Our World” in 2006.
  Ira Glass is the host and producer of the public radio program This American Life, a radio show
  now heard on more than 500 public radio stations each week by over 1.7 million listeners. Under
  Glass's editorial direction, This American Life has won the highest honors for broadcasting and
  journalistic excellence, including the Peabody and DuPont-Columbia awards, as well as the
  Edward R. Murrow and the Overseas Press Club awards. The American Journalism Review
  declared that the show is “at the vanguard of a journalistic revolution.” It has won critical acclaim
  and attracted continuous national media attention over the years. In 2001, Time magazine named
  Glass “Best Radio Host in America.”
  
  Jonathan Franzen is the author of five books, most notably The Corrections, an enormous
  international bestseller, with translations in 35 languages, American hardcover sales of nearly one
  million copies and nominations for nearly every major book prize in the country. Franzen was
  awarded the National Book Award for this novel in 2001, and has published two works of
  nonfiction since, The Discomfort Zone and How To Be Alone. Franzen’s play, to be performed at
  the show, is the New York chapter from Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey's new collection State by
  State: A Panoramic Portrait of America, inspired by the state guides written for the WPA in the
  1930s.
  
  Eric Bogosian is best known for writing and starring in the play and film, “Talk Radio,” which
  was a Pulitzer Prize finalist and received the Berlin Film Festival “Silver Bear Award.” He is also
  well known for his six solo performances Off-Broadway between 1980 and 2000, for which he
  received three Obie awards. A celebrated playwright, he is also the author of two novels, “Mall”
  and “Wasted Beauty” and a novella, “Notes from Underground.” As an actor, Bogosian has
  appeared in numerous films and television programs, starring in Robert Altman’s “The Caine
  Mutiny Court Martial”, Atom Egoyan’s “Ararat,” “Under Siege II” and “Wonderland”. He
  currently stars in “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” on NBC.
  
  Department of Eagles are Daniel Rossen and Fred Nicolaus. Rossen is best known as a member
  of Grizzly Bear, a band he joined in 2005. Rossen contributed songs and lead vocals to the album
  “Yellow House,” which was ranked as one of the top albums of 2006 by The New York Times and
  Pitchfork Media. Department of Eagles formed in 2001, when Rossen and Nicolaus were
  roommates at NYU. Their debut record “In Ear Park” will be released on October 7th on 4AD.
  
  Thao Nguyen is a musician from San Francisco and the leader of Thao With The Get Down Stay
  Down. Their first record, “We Brave Bee Stings and All,” was released in January on Kill Rock
  Stars. With a voice that has been compared to Beth Orton, and songs that specialize in galloping,
  sugar-coated hooks, Nguyen, says Pitchfork, “has a sharp eye for small, telling details, which
  could form the bedrock of a young adult novel but rather inform songs simultaneously life-size
  and larger-than-life.”
  
  Zach Rogue is a musician from San Francisco and the leader of Rogue Wave, whose third album
  “Asleep at the Heaven’s Gate” was released last year. Rogue Wave burst onto the national scene
  in 2004 with their debut record “Out of the Shadow,” which All Music Guide called, “an indie
  dream come true. A dream like another great Elliott Smith record, or a Sebadoh record that isn't
  an embarrassment, or a Neutral Milk Hotel record that makes sense.”
  
  John Oliver’s passport lists his occupation as ‘comedian’ and as we all know, passports never
  lie. He is a correspondent on Comedy Central’sThe Daily Show with Jon Stewart, working as a
  writer on the show and appearing regularly on the program. He has worked as a stand-up
  comedian around the UK entertaining and irritating audiences in equal measure for the last 7
  years, and has regularly taken shows to the Edinburgh Festival. In the course of his career, John
  has received no awards worth mentioning but did receive a letter of complaint from Buckingham
  Palace, which is clearly a lot better.