‘Horse Crazy with Sarah Maslin Nir’ featured at WAMC@SPAC series
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> Saratoga Performing Arts Center will continue its WAMC@SPAC series with “Horse Crazy with Sarah Maslin Nir.”
The event will take place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 25. in the Nancy DiCresce Room at The Pines@SPAC facility.
WAMC Northeast Public Radio’s Joe Donahue will lead the conversation with heralded New York Times reporter, Pulitzer Prize finalist and avid equestrian Sarah Maslin Nir, exploring Nir’s new book Horse Crazy.
“We are excited to continue our series with Joe Donahue and WAMC,” SPAC president and CEO Elizabeth Sobo said in a press release. “Horses are of course synonymous with Saratoga in August. Sarah’s book goes beyond her sheer passion for these majestic animals into a deeper exploration of life, love, obsession and resilience.”
Named one of USA Today’s “20 Summer Books You Won’t Want to Miss,” Horse Crazy is a fascinating, funny, and moving love letter to these graceful animals and the people who — like her — are obsessed with them. It is also a coming-of-age story of Nir growing up as an outsider within the world’s most elite inner circles, and finding her true north in horses. Nir takes readers into the lesser-known corners of the riding world and profiles some of its most captivating figures. Woven into these compelling character studies, Nir shares her own moving personal narrative.
She details her father’s harrowing tale of surviving the Holocaust, and describes an enchanted but deeply lonely upbringing in Manhattan, where horses became her family.
And she speaks candidly of how horses have helped her overcome heartbreak and loss. Infused with heart and wit, and with each chapter named after a horse Nir has loved, Horse Crazy is an unforgettable blend of beautifully written memoir and first-rate reporting.
Nir is a staff reporter for The New York Times. She was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for “Unvarnished,” her more than yearlong investigation into New York City’s nail salon industry that documented the exploitative labor practices and health issues manicurists face. Before becoming a staff reporter, Nir freelanced for 11 sections of the paper, traveling to the Alaskan wilderness in search of people who prefer to live in isolation, and to post-earthquake Haiti. She began as the New York Times’s nightlife columnist, covering 252 parties in 18 months, and continued on to a career that has taken her from covering kidnappings by terrorists in Benin, West Africa, to wildfires in California, and everything in between.
All WAMC@SPAC attendees are required to show proof of having completed their COVID-19 vaccination no sooner than 14 days prior to the event. Verification will be required upon entry at the Charlie Gate adjacent to the Hall of Springs entrance.
WAMC@SPAC: “Horse Crazy with Sarah Maslin Nir” is free to attend, however seating is limited. Registration is available online at spac.org.