NYTIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR FRANK BRADY RETURNS TO WOODHAVEN

FRIENDS OF QUEENS LIBRARY AT WOODHAVEN

Press Release 

For Immediate Release 

Contact: 

Maria Concolino                                                                                                                            718-849-1582 

AUTHOR FRANK BRADY RETURNED HOME TO WOODHAVEN TO DISCUSS HIS NEW BESTSELLER, ENDGAME, AT QUEENS LIBRARY AT WOODHAVEN ON OCTOBER 17

Endgame: Bobby Fischer’s Remarkable Rise and Fall – from America’s Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness  Book Sale Targeted to Woodhaven Library’s Renovations Fund

Queens, NY, October 24, 2011 – New York Times best-selling author Dr. Frank Brady gave a book talk about his fascinating new book--the biography of the sensational yet disturbed chess player, the late Bobby Fischer. The Woodhaven Library Fund-raising Committee and the Friends of Queens Library at Woodhaven were pleased to host this book talk and sale with former Woodhaven native Dr. Frank Brady, author of Endgame: Bobby Fischer’s Remarkable Rise and Fall – from America’s Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness on Monday, October 17 at 6:00 PM.  Queens Library at Woodhaven is located in 85-41 Forest Parkway, Woodhaven, NY; 718-849-1010.  Admission was free.

Dr. Frank Brady's grew up in Woodhaven and spent a lot of time as a child reading in its historic Carnegie library. He says this library made him a writer; he says he spent as many as six days a week in its warm, friendly atmosphere.

Proceeds from the book sale will support long-needed upgrades at the Carnegie building. The Friends were also happy to give Dr. Brady a tour of the library before his program. Queens Library has set Phase I of its planned renovations of the main floor to begin soon and be completed by fall of 2012. Phase II will begin on the lower level after that, with both phases having little effect on library service hours, according to the Friends group.   

A tenured journalism professor at St. John’s University, Dr. Frank Brady is also an avid chess player who played at the outdoor Forest Park chess tables in his youth, and was very pleased to return home to the area and the library for a book talk. He followed his program with a Q&A with the audience and signed copies of his book, published earlier this year. Endgame is available through Amazon and will go to paperback in January.

Frank Brady’s biography of Brooklyn’s Bobby Fischer is sure to captivate any reader’s attention about the turbulent life the late chess wiz had lived. Bobby Fischer, a chess prodigy with a genius IQ of 180 as a child, beats adults in chess matches all around the world including from U.S. arch-rival Russia, but grows up mentally backwards.  Instead of becoming smarter and smarter, he grows up and becomes mentally unstable. He is remembered for his twisted quote “to break the other guy’s ego” when asked what sort of thrill he gets from chess.

Dr. Brady has written many books on a variety of subjects. Now, the Upper West Side writer is the Chairman of the Department of Mass Communications, Journalism, Television and Film at St. John's University, New York. He has also been an Adjunct Professor of Journalism for the past 25 years at Barnard College of Columbia University. He has a B.S., SUNY; MFA, Columbia University (film); and M.A., Ph.D., New York University (writing). As current chair of a department at St. John's University, Dr. Brady oversees a multi-million dollar budget, a 60-member faculty, and 900 students.

In 1960, Brady was the founding editor of Chess Life as a magazine. (Previously, it had been a newspaper). He was later editor of Chessworld Magazine and he still later worked as an editor for Ralph Ginzburg and Hugh Hefner. He is an International Arbiter, recognized by FIDE, the World Chess Federation, and has directed many major chess tournaments, including being the tournament arbiter when his friend played his historic 11-0 in the U.S. Championship in 1963—one of the greatest moments in American chess history. Fischer put on one of the most incredible performances ever seen at the championship level, wining all 11 of his games.

Frank Brady was Secretary of the United States Chess Federation 2003–2005. He served as arbiter of international chess tournaments in 2001 and 2004 in New York. He has been elected to, and serves as an active voting member, of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and PEN, the international writers' organization. He is a writer, editor and publisher of international renown. He wrote one of the best-selling chess books in history, Profile of a Prodigy, the biography of Bobby Fischer, as well as countless other books and articles on chess and other subjects. His new biography of Fischer, Endgame: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Bobby Fischer, was published earlier this year. He has been involved with radio and film projects. In 2007, Brady was elected President of the Marshall Chess Club, the most prestigious chess club in the country.

For more information about the Woodhaven Library or Frank Brady's return to his beloved local Carnegie Library, please contact Maria Concolino, president of the Friends of Queens Library at Woodhaven and its fund-raising committee, at 718-849-1582.#