(NEW MARLBOROUGH, Mass.) – Music and More’s 2011 season concludes with a panel featuring four nationally prominent authors: Andrew Hacker, Claudia Dreifus, Bruce Murkoff and Tracy Kidder, hosted by Mitchel Levitas of the New York Times. The authors will discuss the rewards and frustrations of writing their recently published work and answer questions from the audience. The discussion and book signing takes place at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 1, 2011, at the historic Meeting House in New Marlborough.

Sociologist Andrew Hacker, author of Two Nations, about America’s racial divide, and prize-winning New York Times journalist Claudia Dreifus will talk about their collaborative book, Higher Education? The book states that colleges, through “outdated institutions” like tenure and sabbaticals, poor administration and the skyrocketing costs of bachelor’s degrees, are failing American kids. The timely work also offers a variety of interesting suggestions for fixing the problem.

Tracy Kidder has written eight books and won many literary prizes, including the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. His most recent work, Strength in What Remains, tells the amazing story of Deo, a young medical student from the African nation of Burundi who was forced onto a terrifying journey through both ethnic violence in his home country and genocide in Rwanda. The book received praise across the board, from publications like Time, the Boston Globe and the New York Times Book Review, which stated, “[Strength] is one of the truly stunning nonfiction books … in recent memory.”

Bruce Murkoff is the much-acclaimed author of the novels Waterborne and Red Rain, his latest. Both are set at transformative times in American history – Waterborne against the backdrop of the Great Depression and Red Rain in the mid-1800s during the American Civil War. Peter Behrens of the Washington Post said of Red Rain, “…[it] is an engaging and bloody-minded read, a historical novel of great conviction that hints at a dark vision of the American present through its confident handling of our past.”

Host of this special discussion is Mitchel Levitas, who has been at the New York Times for over 40 years in various senior editorial positions: Metropolitan Editor, the Week in Review editor, editor of the Sunday Book Review, editor of Op-Ed Page, and currently as executive associate of the paper’s Book Development Program, which he launched in 1999.

Tickets cost $15/$10. Students with ID and children with parents are admitted for free. Visit Music and More or call 413. 229.2785 for tickets, discounts and information.

Enjoy a 10% discount for a post-concert dinner at the historic Old Inn on the Green (rated “Best in the Berkshires” by Zagat) just next door. Call 413.229.7924 for advanced reservations, which are required.

About Music & More

Directed by Harold Lewin and in its 20th year, Music & More was founded with the goal of bringing a diverse and distinguished group of authors, musicians and films to the Berkshires. This year, Music and More was comprised of eight events at the historic Meeting House in New Marlborough, Mass. Visit Meeting House in New Marlborough or call 413.229.2785 for further information. Music & More is sponsored by the New Marlborough Village Association.