Vendela Vida/Dinosaur Feathers

A recent headline in the publishing industry newsletter GalleyCat:  "Novelist Vendela Vida Immortalized in Indie Rock Song."  Editor Jason Boog describes how he came across Dinosaur Feathers' 2009 song Vendela Vida while browsing on a music blog and chased down band member Greg Sullo to find out more.  As it turns out, the song is named for Vida but it isn't actually about her.  "We started calling it Vendela Vida out of laziness I guess--because it's the first lyric basically," Sullo says.  "When I wrote the song, I had just seen her do a reading of one of her short stories at a benefit for 826NYC.  So the lyric at the beginning was informed partially by that reading."  Vida is a co-founder of 826NYC, a nonprofit devoted to nurturing creative writing skills in children ages 6 to 18.  She is the author of three books, most recently Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name (2007).  Her new book, The Lovers, is due out later this year.  She is married to writer/publisher Dave Eggers.