Book Reading and Discussion With Best Selling Author Russell Shorto

Press release from Manhattanville College:

 Manhattanville College’s Master of Arts in Writing Program’s  Meet the Writers Spring 2011  Series  will proudly feature  Russell Shorto, best-selling author and contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine, on Tuesday, April 5 at 7 p.m.  Shorto will read from his books, The Island at the Center of the World and Descartes’ Bones: A Skeletal History of the Conflict Between Faith and Reason,  A reception, Q & A and a book signing are included after the reading. Readings are free and open to the public, but reservations are required. Readings are located at Manhattanville’s College Reid Castle, 2900 Purchase Street, Purchase NY.  For information and reservations, contact  Karen Sirabian, Director of Manhattanville College’s Master of Arts in Writing Program at 914-323-5239, e-mail  sirabiank@mville.edu or log onto www.mville.edu/writing

RUSSELL SHORTO  is an American author, historian and journalist, best known for his book on the Dutch origins of New York City, The Island at the Center of the World. His most recent work, published in October 2008, is Descartes' Bones, which traces the wanderings of the literal skull and bones of René Descartes through three and a half centuries, and the metaphorical remains of the French philosopher in the modern world.

Born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania on February 8, 1959, Shorto is a 1981 graduate of George Washington University. He is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and is the Director of The John Adams Institute in Amsterdam, where he has lived since November 2007.

On September 8, 2009 Shorto received a Dutch knighthood in the Order of Orange-Nassau for strengthening the relationship between the Netherlands and the United States through his publications and as Director of the John Adams Institute

“Meet the Writers” -- Meet, hear and converse with award winning authors

Located in historical Reid Castle on the Manhattanville Campus, the Master of Arts in Writing Program’s ”Meet the Writers” literary series offers the community  an opportunity to attend readings  and experience  intimate  introductions to renowned authors. This event is  funded in part by Poets & Writers Inc. with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.