Annette Gordon-Reed, who visited the New York State Writers Institute on March 4, 2009, has received the Pulitzer Prize in history for her newest book, The Hemingses of Monticello. In awarding the prize, the panel of judges called the book "a painstaking exploration of a sprawling multi-generation slave family that casts provocative new light on the relationship between Sally Hemings and her master, Thomas Jefferson." Visit our video archive for clips of Gordon-Reed's presentations in Albany.
Other Writers Institute visitors named as finalists for Pulitzer Prizes this year include poet Frank Bidart , who read last April from his prize-nominated volume, Watching the Spring Festival (2008), poet Ruth Stone, novelist Louise Erdrich, and UAlbany Music Professor Don Byron, who performed on saxophone and clarinet as an opener for our evening event with filmmaker Spike Lee. Recent visitor Dava Sobel served as a judge for the prize in General Nonfiction.
