United for Libraries to designate Spalding Gray House a Literary Landmark

SAG HARBOR, N.Y. – United for Libraries, in partnership with Empire State Center for the Book, Friends of the John Jermain Library, and the Sherwin-Williams Company, will designate the Spalding Gray House in Sag Harbor, N.Y., a Literary Landmark on Saturday, June 23.

Catherine Creedon, director of the John Jermain Memorial Library, will preside over the dedication. Tara Clancy will read an excerpt from Gray’s work. The dedication will be part of an event to benefit the 2018 Performance Space New York Spalding Gray Award Commission. The event will feature A.M Homes, John Leguizamo, Jonathan Ames, Jane Comfort, Kathleen Russo, and Jenny Schlenzka. For more information, contact Performance Space New York (www.performancespacenewyork.org).

The house was writer/actor Spalding Gray's last home (2001-2004) with his wife Kathleen Russo and their children Marissa, Forrest, and Theo. Gray wrote 19 monologues for stage, film, and publication, from Swimming to Cambodia to Morning, Noon and Night (about his life in Sag Harbor).  He is best known for being an American original that sat behind a desk with a glass of water, a notebook, and a microphone to tell the audience a story. When he reflected on his career he would say “What was there left to do but to report to myself the condition of the world that is out there, as I saw it. What was there left to do but ask you to listen?”

This Literary Landmark will be the 28^th in New York State, and the third on Long Island.  The other two landmarks are Walt Whitman’s Birthplace in Huntington Station and the Windmill at Stony Brook’s Southampton campus.

The Literary Landmark program is administered by United for Libraries. Since the conception of the program in 1986, more than 165 Literary Landmarks across the United States have been dedicated. Any library or group may apply for a Literary Landmark through United for Libraries; visit www.ala.org/united/products_services/literarylandmarks.

United for Libraries: The Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations, is a division of the American Library Association with approximately 4,000 personal and group members representing hundreds of thousands of library supporters. United for Libraries supports those who govern, promote, advocate, and fundraise for libraries, and brings together library trustees, advocates, friends, and foundations into a partnership that creates a powerful force for libraries in the 21st century. To join, please visit www.ala.org/united or call (800) 545-2433, ext. 2161.