The CT Forum Panelists - In the News!

Connecticut Forum panelists have been making lots of headlines lately. Here's a round-up of some past and future CT Forum panelists who have been featured in recent national headlines:

Kurt Vonnegut: The Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library was recently the recipient of a $100,000 grant that will go towards finishing up the library's downtown Indianapolis space dedicated to the legendary American author. Vonnegut participated in our 2006 Forum, An Evening With our Favorite Writers. You can read about the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library in the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune.

Watch Vonnegut at The Forum

Tina Brown: A seasoned Forum Alum, Tina Brown has participated in not one but two Forum events - A World of Change in 2010 and Talkin' 'Bout My Generation in 2005. As the founder and editor of The Daily Beast, Brown's been making headlines this week - including this story in the New York Times - because of The Daily Beast's merger with Newsweek in a joint venture to form The Newsweek Daily Beast Company.

Watch Brown at The Forum

Jonathan Franzen: We're beyond excited that Celebrated Author Jonathan Franzen will be participating in our last Forum of the season, Forum Book Club on May 7, 2011. Franzen, who was also recently featured on the cover (the COVER!) of TIME magazine, has been showered with accolades for his new novel, Freedom, since its release earlier this year. He'll be a guest on Oprah (OPRAH!!) on December 6, where the two are expected to kiss and make-up after their publicized spat a few years back. Here's the dish: Oprah wanted to feature Franzen's first novel, The Corrections, in her book club. Franzen spoke publicly about his concerns that the opportunity might turn off potential readers (namely: males) from reading the book. Oprah subsequently un-invited him and, we can assume, many Oprah viewers added him to their black-list. Now, however, the spat seems to be over and the love-fest can begin.

Patti Smith: Rock Legend Patti Smith wowed everyone at our Forum Music Fest last May - from long time fans to high school age CT YOUTH Forum members who were just meeting her for the first time. Cool, real, and incredibly talented, we celebrate Patti's latest accomplishment: the National Book Award for nonfiction for her memoir, Just Kids.

Watch Smith at The Forum

Rock Legend Patti Smith Added to The Forum Music Fest with John Legend and Wyclef Jean

JUST ANNOUNCED!

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Poet, Author, and Creative Spirit Patti Smith will join John Legend and Wyclef Jean at The Forum Music Fest on Saturday, May 1, 2010.

Patti Smith has been making a mark as a musician and artist since the 1970s. Her recently released memoir, Just Kids, about the music scene in New York City in the 1970s and her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, has become a best seller.

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007 and this April awarded the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) highest award, the Founders Award, ASCAP President and Chairman Paul Williams said, "Patti fused raw rock energy with the heart of a poet and ignited the 1970s New York punk scene. She expanded the boundaries of artistic expression, musically and otherwise, inspiring generations of rockers worldwide. She continues to be a vibrant, prolific artist, working in a wide variety of media.”  

Smith has described her work as “three chords merged with the power of the word.” Her first album Horses (1975) fused punk rock with poetry, and the cover photo by Mapplethorpe became a rock classic. Her album Easter (1978) included her best known hit, Because the Night, co-written with Bruce Springsteen.

In 1988 Smith and then husband Fred “Sonic” Smith recorded Dream of Life that included the classic anthem, People Have the Power. A documentary about Smith, Patti Smith, Dream of Life, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008.

Smith has released 18 music albums, published 14 books of poetry and art, and performed and exhibited around the world. She has been nominated for two Grammy awards, has received poetry awards and an honorary doctorate, and was awarded the highest honor given to artists in France, the Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres. Smith also received the prestigious Women of Valor Award at the ROCKRGRL Music Conference on November 10, 2005 - exactly 30 years to the day since Horses’ release.

Smith is politically active and participates in benefit work and in various human rights organizations, including the Neil Young Bridge School, Jewel Heart, and the Tibet House Foundation. The song 1959, about the Chinese invasion of Tibet from the album Peace and Noise, was nominated for a Grammy in 1998.