Shadow Yaddo – Yaddo

Episode 23: Maps and Legends

July 22, 2021

Opera, voyages, battlegrounds and more: Playwright and librettist Sandra Seaton on why she’s moved to reimagine history. PLUS: Renowned visual artists Alexi Worth and Joyce Kozloff on war cartography.

Episode 22: Real Magic

July 8, 2021

Venture behind the scenes for a glimpse of culinary magic, the future of NYC restaurants, and the tastes of summer with chef/writer Gabrielle Hamilton and New York magazine’s “bilious gourmand” Adam Platt. Award-winning journalists Mark Binelli and Julian Rubenstein discuss life, work and moving back home to write a book.

Episode 21: See the Light

June 24, 2021

The luminous writer Jo Ann Beard discusses her new book, Festival Days, with revered editor Patricia Towers. And we’ll share some news about a very special Yaddo event coming up this fall: “Art Saved Us—Let’s Save Art,” with singer-songwriter and mega-talent Shaina Taub, who gives a preview of her performance.

Episode 20: Change is Like an Ocean

June 10, 2021

Brilliant filmmaker Shaka King and celebrated writer Walter Mosley discuss the difficulty of making meaningful films, New York vs. L.A., and the ebb and flow of social change. PLUS: Photographer and seasoned activist Dona Ann McAdams on a chance encounter that changed the course of her life and work: The day she met civil rights leader Harvey Milk.

Episode 19: Love of Labor

May 27, 2021

Whether it’s a creative pursuit, side-hustle or “real” job, work is at the heart of this episode featuring novelists Lisa Dierbeck and Jonathan Ames on his latest book, A Man Named Doll, the first in a new noir series set in Los Angeles. Plus: Spoken word artist and poet Hakeem Furious performs “Valero Valet,” a piece he wrote about working the graveyard shift at a gas station. Contributing artists: Joseph Keckler, Damu the Fudgemunk.

Episode 18: Family Mystery

May 13, 2021

Obsession, motherhood, long-held secrets and more in this week’s exploration of family: Kirstin Valdez Quade on her new novel, The Five Wounds, in which multiple generations of family converge. Illustrator and writer Margaret Kimball, whose debut memoir Now I Spill the Family Secrets offers a riveting and layered account of divorce, mental health and coming to terms with family conflict, speaks with the wonderful novelist Charles Bock, author of Beautiful Children.

Episode 17: Future Forward

April 29, 2021

As arts venues reopen (hooray!), we asked two brilliant friends to imagine a new paradigm for concert classical music: Venezuelan/American composer, multimedia collaborator and Yaddo Board Member Manuel Sosa in conversation with Saratoga Performing Arts Center President and CEO Elizabeth Sobol on resilience, experimentation and turning our “lost year” into a boon for the next generation of performing arts.

Episode 16: Nature Noir

April 15, 2021

Dig into the forensics of a new kind of noir, climate crime, with acclaimed novelist and nonfiction writer Nathaniel Rich and intellectual powerhouse Philip Gourevitch. PLUS selections from Landfall, the genius collaboration by iconic inventor and artist Laurie Anderson and Kronos Quartet.

Episode 15: Full Circle

April 1, 2021

Playwright, songwriter and performer David Cale and his friend and sometime-collaborator Sylver Wallace talk about pandemic projects and share new music, with nods to the East Village hotspot Pangea, Sade Adu, and… squirrels!

Episode 14: Spring Fever

March 18, 2021

Work hard, play hard, and evade the “tyranny of the early riser”—stay up late with Shadow // Yaddo! Katherine Rosman and Melissa Maerz on the cult classic, “Dazed and Confused.” Plus Beena Kamlani shares a reading from Saul Bellow’s Herzog.