31 Winters

31 Winters is the fourth collection of essays from the notebook of traveling folk singer Mark Dvorak. The book reflects on Dvorak's long journey through music and teaching. It is instructive, thoughtful, sometimes funny and often revealing. His gift for descriptive prose takes the reader "there." Dvorak began teaching first as an avocation but his interest in working with students deepened and evolved into a way of life and a livelihood of "helping people teach themselves."

31 Winters is the fourth collection of essays from the notebook of traveling folk singer Mark Dvorak. The book reflects on Dvorak's long journey through music and teaching. It is instructive, thoughtful, sometimes funny and often revealing. His gift for descriptive prose takes the reader "there." Dvorak began teaching first as an avocation but his interest in working with students deepened and evolved into a way of life and a livelihood of "helping people teach themselves." "Gentle and poignant, direct and honest, the essays frequently turn sadness into hope and light." "Dvorak writes just like he sings and plays, with clarity and flair..." "... a fabulous teacher, kind, good-humored, with the soul of a poet and the patience of Job ..."

Mark Dvorak is a songwriter and musician. In 1986, he joined the faculty at the Old Town School of Folk Music and was soon embedded in the Chicago acoustic scene. Dvorak has given concerts in almost all of the United States and has made visits to Europe. He has won awards for children's music, journalism and was honored in 2013 with the FARM Lantern Bearer Award from Folk Alliance International. In 2008 he received the Woodstock Folk Festival Lifetime Achievement Award.