Oliver Sacks Foundation

Here's a selection of Oliver Sacks books that might make good gifts for people on your list this year. Follow the link below to learn more and don't forget to buy indie! https://lnkd.in/ez6tNvwD

Keith McNally shared a touching tribute to the new LETTERS by Oliver Sacks: "Because of the mesmerizing content of his books, readers of Oliver Sacks tend to forget what an astonishing writer he was. At least I do. This morning I began reading - dipped into, is more like it - the new seven hundred page book of the great humanist's letters. The preface, by Sacks's long-time editor Kate Edgar, is almost as brilliant as the letters themselves. Here's the first letter in the book, written at 27, to his parents from Canada: "From Toronto I flew over the prairies at night. We touched down at Winnipeg and at Regina, where I snuffed the prairie air - there was no time for anything else. In Toronto, the air is humid, and smells of frenzy, sweat and gasoline. In the prairies it is dry and warm and aromatic, and smells of cinnamon and roasted buckwheat, as if the door to some gigantic oven had been opened." ('Frenzy, sweat and gasoline'. What a magnificent sentence!) Have you already read or dipped into the book? If so, we'd love to hear what you think! 📷 : Keith McNally

We have been thrilled to see so much praise for LETTERS, including a recent review from Erica Wagner for The New Statesman. She writes: "Oliver Sacks’s Letters isn’t a book of the year – it’s a book for a lifetime. The great neurologist’s brilliance and humanity is no secret; but here (superbly edited by Kate Edgar) the reader sees his life unfold in real time: his original, challenging work, his love for his family, his unique passions, his evolving relationship to his sexuality. Keep this by your side, dip into it, be reminded of the wonders of our shared humanity." Have you got your copy yet? This gorgeous photo was taken by Michael Grassi (the creator of NBC's Brilliant Minds) and you might spot the bookmark from Three Lives and Company - Oliver's local West Village bookstore which he loved to visit.

Last week composer Tobias Picker was featured on Relevant Tones, where he spoke about his Awakenings opera. The interview provides an insight into his relationship with Oliver and features excerpts from the opera. Follow the link below to listen now. https://lnkd.in/ebQuXAEV

Happy publication day to LETTERS, the new collection of Oliver Sacks’s correspondence! The collection is full of Oliver’s deepest thoughts on music, art, and science, friendship and resilience, and what it takes to lead a meaningful life. It was edited by Kate Edgar, director of the Oliver Sacks Foundation and Oliver’s lifelong friend and editor. Get your copy here: https://lnkd.in/ek7tkWFk The charming, never-before-seen photo of Oliver on the cover was taken in 1997 by his good friend Rosalie Winard, a few blocks from his home on Horatio Street in Greenwich Village. “Here is the unedited Oliver Sacks—struggling, passionate, a furiously intelligent misfit. And also endless interesting. He was a man like no other.” —Atul Gawande, author of Being Mortal

"Sacks showed generations of doctors (and patients) how medicine is just the starting point for an exploration of the possibilities of being human. With these letters, his legacy as an extraordinary writer, humanitarian and physician is secured." Follow the link below to read Gavin Francis's review of LETTERS in The Guardian. Preorder your copy here: https://lnkd.in/ek7tkWFk

“Who am I? What sort of person am I? I have always felt transparent, without substance, a ghost, a transient, homeless, or outcast,” Oliver Sacks wrote in a letter to his favorite "Auntie Len" in 1966. In a beautiful guest essay for The New York Times Opinion Section, Sacks's partner, Bill Hayes, describes how he was surprised by what he read in many of Oliver's letters, which will be published next month for the first time. Follow the link below to read the piece, alongside excerpts from the forthcoming LETTERS, edited by Kate Edgar, which vividly depict the young Oliver struggling to find his way in the world as both a doctor and a writer, under the strain of intense self-doubt and battles with his own emotional and mental health. https://lnkd.in/eBFh4vMj

Please join us to celebrate the publication of LETTERS, the new collection of Oliver Sacks’s correspondence! November 7, 2024, at 8 pm at 92Y in NYC (and online), with writer Bill Hayes, Zachary Quinto (who plays the neurologist inspired by Sacks in the new NBC series Brilliant Minds), Brilliant Minds showrunner Michael Grassi, Science Friday’s Ira Flatow, and award-winning writers Wendy Lesser, Kay Redfield Jamison, and Maria Popova. Get your tickets here: https://lnkd.in/epeHPfPE

We are excited to share that The New York Public Library has acquired the archive of Oliver Sacks, pioneering physician and beloved author who bridged the fields of medicine, science, and the humanities. The complete archival record encompasses over 80 years worth of documents, from Sacks’s birth in 1933 until his death at 82 in 2015. It comprises 375 linear feet of papers as well as rare volumes, audiovisual material, and memorabilia. “Oliver Sacks transformed how people have come to understand the human brain and individuality—and in doing so, reshaped humanity itself,” Julie Golia, Associate Director, Manuscripts, Archives, Rare Books at The New York Public Library, said. “The Sacks archive reveals his empathic approach to research and medical care, and it documents the personal experiences of countless neurodiverse patients, subjects, and friends who fueled and shaped his writing. The collection is vast in size and scope, and breathtakingly beautiful in its details. The Library is looking forward to welcoming new generations of scholars and learners to explore the remarkable personal and intellectual legacy of Oliver Sacks.” Learn more: https://lnkd.in/e3eRpzet 📷 : Oliver Sacks at The New York Public Library, 2011

“He was an incredible, complex, inspirational and influential doctor and person,” Zachary Quinto explained. “So, it’s this very unique alchemy for me, where I get to play a character who is inspired by a real-life person, but I’m not tethered to the period or the behavior of that person in real life. I get to take all of the rich tapestry of who Oliver Sacks was and inform the creation of Oliver Wolf.” Tune into #BrilliantMinds on NBC tonight at 10pm for another mystery of the mind, with Zachary Quinto playing the empathic Dr. Oliver Wolf (streaming the next day on Peacock). https://lnkd.in/eb_kqWDJ