Lawrence Weschler directs the New York Institute for the Humanities at New York University. A staff writer at The New Yorker for twenty years, he is a regular contributor to McSweeney’s, Harper’s, The Atlantic Monthly, Threepenny Review, and National Public Radio, and is the author of ten books including Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder (which was short-listed for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award). He lives in Westchester County, New York, with his wife and daughter.

Moderator

As a boy, all Mark Salzman ever wanted was to be a Kung Fu master. It was his proficiency on the cello, however, that facilitated his acceptance to Yale at the age of 16. He soon changed his major to Chinese language and philosophy, eventually leading him to travel to mainland China, where he spent two years teaching English at Hunan Medical College and studying traditional martial arts at their source. In 1985, he was the only non-Chinese invited to participate in the National Martial Arts Competition in Tianjin.

Mark Salzman’s experiences in China were the inspiration for his first book, Iron and Silk, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in non-fiction and received the Christopher Award. He wrote the screenplay for and starred in the critically acclaimed film version of Iron and Silk, which was shot entirely on location in China. His other books include a memoir, Lost in Place: Growing Up Absurd in Suburbia, The Laughing Sutra, The Soloist, and Lying Awake. His work True Notebooks (Fall 2003) is a fascinating look at his experiences as a writing teacher at a maximum-security prison for juvenile offenders.