On Saturday, March 11, The Porch Writers’ Collective, Nashville’s non-profit center for writing, will present its third annual fundraiser, an evening of song and story.
Mercy & Magic, this year’s event, will feature an intimate conversation between, and performances by, The New York Times No. 1 best-selling author Wally Lamb and one of Americana music’s most admired artists, Mary Gauthier. The two artists have been friends and fans of one another since appearing together at a festival in New Orleans years ago. For Mercy & Magic, they will appear on stage together once more to share from their work and reveal the stories behind its creation.
Mercy & Magic will take place from 8:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. in the Great Barn at Green Door Gourmet (7007 River Rd Pike, Nashville, Tenn., 37209). General admission tickets are $35.00 (members) or $50.00 (non-members); VIP tickets are $150.00 General admission tickets will include wine and beer; VIP tickets will include a meet-and-greet reception before the show with wine, beer, cocktails, and heavy hors d’oeuvres. The event registration form also provides an option for making gifts of any amount. Proceeds for the event benefit The Porch Writers’ Collective. To purchase tickets, visit MercyAndMagic.com.
“Mary Gauthier and Wally Lamb know the transformative power and truth-seeking nature of art. Together they’ll reflect on the ways in which literature and music have made a crucial difference in their lives,” said Susannah Felts, co-founder of The Porch. “They’ve got many stories to share, and we believe everyone will find a little truth to take home and hold close. Writing can do that for us all, and that’s what we want to celebrate as we head into our fourth year of programming.”
About Wally Lamb
Lamb is the author of four New York Times best-selling novels: Wishin’ and Hopin’, The Hour I first Believed, I Know This Much is True, and She’s Come Undone and was twice selected for Oprah’s Book Club. Honors for Wally Lamb include a National Endowment for the Arts grant, the Connecticut Center for the Book’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2010 Arts and Letters award from the YMCA of New York City. Lamb was the 1999 recipient of the New England Book Award for fiction. I Know This Much Is True won the Friends of the Library USA Readers’ Choice Award for best novel of 1998, and the Kenneth Johnson Memorial Book Award, which honored the novel’s contribution to the anti-stigmatization of mental illness. She’s Come Undone was a 1992 “Top Ten” Book of the Year selection in People magazine and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Best First Novel of 1992. I’ll Fly Away was a 2008 Connecticut Book Award Winner for non-fiction.
About Mary Gauthier
Gauthier’s second album, Drag Queens in Limousines won best Folk/Singer-Songwriter Song at the Independent Music Awards. It also was nominated for three Gay and Lesbian American Music Awards (GLAMA) and won best country artist of the year. Her first major label release, Mercy Now, was on the top 10 list for the year in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Daily News, and Billboard Magazine. Gauthier has had her songs recorded by numerous artists, including Jimmy Buffett, Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, Boy George, Bill Chambers, Mike Farris, Candi Staton, Amy Helm, and Bettye Lavette. Her short stories have been published in several books and magazines, including the book Amplified, released by Random House, and The Blue Rock Review. Her songs have appeared on the playlists of Wally Lamb, Tom Waits, and Bob Dylan. She has a book deal with Yale University Press, and is currently writing a book about the Art of Songwriting. She’s a regular performer on the Grand Ole Opry, and currently resides in Nashville, Tenn.
About The Porch Writers’ Collective
The Porch, Nashville’s nonprofit center for writing, fosters the artistic and professional development of writers and promotes a vibrant and diverse literary culture in Nashville through educational, inspiring, and community-building opportunities and events for adults and youth. To that end, The Porch offers one-day intensive and multi-week workshops in poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. The Porch also hosts events at various venues in Nashville free of charge, and events in local restaurants pairing literary interests with the creations of Nashville chefs. Among The Porch’s outreach programs are SLANT (programming for youth); Expressive Writing for Immigrants and Refugees; and Poetry on Demand (a Nashville Neighborhoods project currently funded by the Metro Arts Commission’s Nashville Neighborhoods THRIVE grant, which is expanding into a national podcast series, sponsored in large part by the Center for Public Broadcasting).
For more information, please visit porchtn.org, or email hello@porch.org.
Attached files: artist headshots of Mary Gauthier and Wally Lamb, and Mercy & Magic poster (with optional artist headshots).