Innovation and Leadership Presents Award-Winning Author, Nicholson Baker

On Thursday, November 3, The Music Hall's Innovation and Leadership series will present New York Times-bestselling author Nicholson Baker. Mr. Baker is the author of ten novels and five works of nonfiction, including The Anthologist, The Mezzanine, and Human Smoke. In his most recent work, SUBSTITUTE: Going to School With a Thousand Kids, Baker takes on the topic of education, recounting 28 days of the spring semester he spent as a substitute teacher in Maine public schools. His observations will astound parents and teachers alike.

The 7pm event includes an author presentation and moderated Q+A, plus post-event book signing and meet-and-greet. It will be held at The Music Hall Loft at 131 Congress Street, in downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

"As someone familiar with the Maine public school system and a father of two school age children, I find Mr. Baker's investigative writing fascinating," said Chris Curtis, Film and Outreach Manager at The Music Hall, and the evening's guest moderator. "SUBSTITUTE inspires us to look again at America's educational system and question what we see. I look forward to his visit and the chance to talk through 'what's next.''

ABOUT THE BOOK

SUBSTITUTE: Going to School With a Thousand Kids is a thought-provoking observation on American education. Baker first became interested in the state of American education as a parent. He began writing about the many issues facing our education system and the kids it serves, including a widely-discussed Harper's Magazine piece arguing against the Common Core's Algebra II requirement, but quickly realized he needed experience in the classroom. So, he became a substitute teacher - filling in for teachers and ed techs at all grade levels, kindergarten through high school, in a Maine public school district near his home. As he taught over the course of the spring 2014 semester, the author recorded his observations and his writing morphed into something that is completely unique in books about education: an account of what the experience of going to school is actually like, day-in and day-out, for students and educators."

I sought out the teaching job because I wanted to know what life in classrooms was really like," say Nicholson Baker in SUBSTITUTE's introduction. "There are many books of educational advice, of theory, of hagiography, of gloomy prognosis - what's missing is a lived-through sense of how busy and complicated and weird and long every school day is; how many ups and downs there are, and how exhausting - and sometimes entertaining - school is, for students and teachers both. Forget curriculum, forget the parts of speech and the noble gases, the nature of prime numbers and the components of an argumentative essay: for many kids, going to school is simply about finding a way to get through six and a half hours of compulsory desk-bound fluorescence without wigging out and incurring punishment. In these pages, I've tried to convey, without exaggeration, the noisy, distracted, crazy-making reality of fairly typical, not-terribly-poor-but-hardly-rich school district."

One of the most inventive and remarkable writers of our time, Nicholson Baker shares unmatched insight into this topic so critical to our nation today. SUBSTITUTE expresses outrage, humor, and empathy as it delves into the world of curiosity and learning, in his most impressive work of nonfiction yet.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nicholson Baker is the author of ten novels and five works of nonfiction, including The Anthologist, The Mezzanine, and Human Smoke. He has won the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Hermann Hesse Prize, and a Katherine Anne Porter Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in Maine with his wife, Margaret Brentano; both their children went to Maine public schools.

TICKETS

The ticket package for Innovation and Leadership: Nicholson Baker on Thursday, November 3, at 7pm is $44 ($42 members). In addition to a reserved seat, the package includes a copy of SUBSTITUTE: Going to School with A Thousand Kids, a bar beverage, and book signing meet-and-greet. Packages can be purchased through The Music Hall Box Office, located at 28 Chestnut Street, Portsmouth, over the phone at 603.436.2400, or online at www.themusichall.org

About Innovation and Leadership

In this Age of Participation, The Music Hall has expanded its programming to focus on issues critical to our time. The Innovation and Leadership series was first launched nearly five years ago to serve our local business community, bringing together the best and the brightest in technology. The series has since broadened to showcase opinion leaders, authors, and all variety of educators, and to serve audiences from a tri-state region and beyond - all who are interested in bettering the worlds they live in, at work and at home, locally and around the world. These lively and informative conversations feature experts in their field sharing experiences and providing participants practical tools for making meaningful advances in their lives. From demonstrations in the art of all things digital to special forums featuring regional and global leaders in sustainability, from book discussion-demonstrations on the positive effect of meditation to awareness-raising events led by today's champions in philanthropy, feminism and family matters, each Innovation and Leadership event is memorable and impactful. The Music Hall is committed to community building and personal flourishing. Our Innovation and Leadership series delivers on that commitment.