Francine Prose, Walter Mosley, Chang-rae Lee, Lydia Davis, Michael Ondaatje, and Jules Feiffer among Spring 2010 visitors to the New York State Writers Institute....
Albany, NY — The New York State Writers Institute at the University at Albany announces its Spring 2010 schedule of visiting writer appearances and film series screenings. Events take place on the UAlbany uptown and downtown campuses and are free and open to the public (unless otherwise noted).
Visiting Writer Series
February 2 (Tuesday): Allen Ballard, novelist
Reading — 7:00 p.m., [Note early start time] Assembly Hall, Campus Center
Allen Ballard, novelist, historian and UAlbany Professor of History and Africana Studies, earned national attention with the publication of Where I’m Bound (2000), a Washington Post Notable Book, and one of the first novels to address the Civil War from the perspective of Black soldiers. His new novel is Carried by Six (2009), an urban thriller about a group of ordinary African American citizens determined to rid their Philadelphia neighborhood of drugs and violence.
Cosponsored by UAlbany’s Departments of Africana Studies and History, EOP Program, and Affirmative Action Office
February 4 (Thursday): Francine Prose, novelist and nonfiction writer
Seminar — 4:15 p.m., Assembly Hall, Campus Center
Reading — 8:00 p.m., Assembly Hall, Campus Center
Francine Prose, novelist and nonfiction writer, is author of Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife (2009), a work of literary history and criticism that celebrates the under-appreciated artistry of the well-known diarist. Prose’s work includes the novels A Changed Man (2005), winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize in fiction and Blue Angel (2001), a finalist for the National Book Award, and the nonfiction New York Times bestseller Reading Like a Writer (2006).
Cosponsored by UAlbany’s Center for Jewish Studies
February 11 (Thursday): Fred LeBrun, journalist
Reading/Talk — 8:00 p.m. Assembly Hall, Campus Center
Fred LeBrun, one of the defining voices of the Albany Times-Union for more than forty years, has served the newspaper as suburban beat reporter, city editor, arts editor, restaurant critic, and foremost commentator on state politics. LeBrun is also known for his “Hudson River Chronicles,” in which he recounts an 18-day adventure downriver from Mount Marcy to New York Harbor in 1998— a portion of which he repeated in 2009 to commemorate the Hudson 400.
Rescheduled from Fall 2009
Cosponsored by the Women’s Press Club of New York State
February 18 (Thursday): Norberto Fuentes, journalist
Seminar — 4:15 p.m., Standish Room, Science Library
Reading — 8:00 p.m. Assembly Hall, Campus Center
Norberto Fuentes, Cuban journalist, Hemingway scholar, early friend and confidante of Fidel Castro, and sometime political prisoner of the Castro regime, is the author of the satirical faux-memoir The Autobiography of Fidel Castro (2004, English translation 2009). Fuentes is also the author of Hemingway in Cuba (1985) and Ernest Hemingway: Rediscovered (1988).
March 4 (Thursday): Lydia Davis, short story writer and novelist
Seminar — 4:15 p.m., Assembly Hall, Campus Center
Reading — 8:00 p.m., Assembly Hall, Campus Center
Lydia Davis, leading artist of the short story form, New York State Writers Institute Fellow, and 2003 MacArthur Foundation fellowship winner, has been called “the best prose stylist in America” (Rick Moody). Her newest book is The Collected Stories (2009), a compilation of stories from four previously published volumes including Varieties of Disturbance, Samuel Johnson is Indignant (2001), Almost No Memory (1997) and Break it Down (1986).
March 11 (Thursday): AUTHORS THEATRE: Women Playwrights of the Early 20th Century
Staged Reading — 7:30 p.m. [Note early start time], Assembly Hall, Campus Center
The Writers Institute will present staged readings of short, rediscovered, early 20th century plays highlighted in the new volume Women Writers of the Provincetown Players (2009) by UAlbany English Professor Judith E. Barlow. Enormously influential in American drama, the Provincetown Players (1915-22) featured a number of notable women among its playwrights including Susan Glaspell, Djuna Barnes, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Neith Boyce, Louise Bryant, Rita McCann Wellman, and Alice Rostetter.
March 16 (Tuesday): Jules Feiffer, editorial cartoonist and author
Seminar — 4:15 p.m., Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center
Reading — 8:00 p.m., Terrace Gallery, 4th Floor, Cultural Education Center, Albany
Jules Feiffer, one of the most influential editorial cartoonists of the last half century, received the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 for work that appeared as part of his long-running strip in the Village Voice. A writer as well as an artist, Feiffer has earned distinction in many genres, including fiction, children’s literature, drama, and screenwriting. His new book is a memoir of his Bronx childhood and early career, Backing into Forward (2010).
Cosponsored by Friends of the New York State Library
March 18 (Thursday): American Place Theatre performance of Three Cups of Tea
Performance — 7:30 p.m., Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center
Pre-performance discussion at 7:00 p.m.
$15 general public; $12 seniors and faculty/staff; $10 students
Box Office: (518) 442-3997; tickets@albany.edu
American Place Theatre presents a one-person theatrical adaptation of the uplifting true story of renowned humanitarian Greg Mortenson who, following a failed attempt to scale Pakistan’s K2 (the world’s second highest mountain), went on to found girls’ schools throughout mountainous regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The program includes pre- and post-show discussions with a teaching artist from American Place Theatre.
Presented by the Performing Arts Center in conjunction with the New York State Writers Institute. Support provided by University Auxiliary Services and Holiday Inn Express.
March 23 (Tuesday): Rebecca Goldstein, philosopher, fiction and nonfiction writer
Seminar — 4:15 p.m., Science Library 340
Reading — 8:00 p.m., Science Library 340
Rebecca Goldstein, writer, MacArthur Foundation Fellow, and professor of philosophy, is the author of the new novel, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God (2010), the humorous tale of a celebrity psychologist and his struggles with fame, truth, illusion, atheism, and belief. Goldstein is also the author of the novels Properties of Light (2000), Mazel (1995), which won the National Jewish Book Award, and The Mind-Body Problem (1983).
Cosponsored by UAlbany’s Center for Jewish Studies
April 8 (Thursday): Chang-rae Lee, fiction writer
Seminar — 4:15 p.m., Campus Center 375
Reading — 8:00 p.m., Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center
Chang-rae Lee, Korean American novelist whose work explores the modern Asian immigrant experience, received the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for his first novel, Native Speaker (1995), and was named one of the 20 best American novelists under 40 by the New Yorker in 1999. His new novel is The Surrendered (2010), the epic story of a Korean orphan, an American GI, and a troubled missionary wife who meet during the immediate aftermath of the Korean War. His other books include A Gesture Life (1999), a national bestseller and New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and Aloft (2004).
April 12 (Monday): Authors Theatre: Stephen Adly Guirgis, playwright
Seminar — 4:15 p.m., Campus Center 375
Reading — 8:00 p.m., Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center
Stephen Adly Guirgis, 1990 UAlbany graduate, is one of the leading playwrights of his generation. His works include “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” (2005), named one of the “10 Best Plays of the Year” by Time and Entertainment Weekly, and “Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train” (2000) winner of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Award.
April 14 (Wednesday): Michael Ondaatje, poet and novelist, and Linda Spalding, fiction and nonfiction writer
Seminar — 4:00 p.m., Rensselaer (RPI) Campus, Troy (exact location TBA)
Reading and McKinney Award Ceremony — 8:00 p.m., Darrin Communication Center 308, Rensselaer (RPI), Troy
Michael Ondaatje, who has received critical acclaim for both his fiction and poetry, is best-known for his Booker Prize-winning novel, The English Patient (1992), later adapted as an Oscar-winning film.
Sri Lankan by birth, Ondaatje is a four-time winner of the Governor General’s Award in Literature in his adopted home country of Canada. He is married to Linda Spalding, with whom he coedits the literary journal, Brick.
Linda Spalding, Kansas-born Canadian fiction and nonfiction writer, often explores world cultures and the clash between contemporary life and traditional beliefs. Her most recent book is Who Named the Knife (2007), the true story of the murder trial of Maryann Acker, a teenager sentenced to life in prison for a murder committed while on honeymoon in Hawaii. Spalding’s earlier books include the novels The Paper Wife (1996), and Daughters of Captain Cook (1989), and the nonfiction book A Dark Place in the Jungle (1998), about renowned orangutan expert Birute Galdikas.
Cosponsored in conjunction with Rensselaer’s 69th McKinney Writing Contest and Reading
April 22 (Thursday): Walter Mosley, novelist
Seminar — 4:15 p.m., Campus Center 375
Reading — 8:00 p.m. Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown campus
Walter Mosley, award-winning author of 30 books, is one of America’s leading writers of hardboiled detective fiction. Mosley is best-known for a series of eleven mystery novels set in L. A. featuring the African American private investigator Easy Rawlins. Devil in a Blue Dress (1990) received the Shamus Award from Private Eye Writers of America and was adapted as a film starring Denzel Washington in 1995. His latest novel, Known To Evil (2010), is the second in a new series featuring Leonid McGill, a Black criminal-turned-detective who plys his trade in New York City.
Classic Film Series
February 19 (Friday): LOLA
Film Screening—7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus
Directed by Jacques Demy
Starring Anouk Aimée, Marc Michel, Jacques Harden
(France, 1961, 90 minutes, b/w, in French with English subtitles)
With spectacular camera work, Jacques Demy pays tribute to the “Lolas” of Max Ophuls’ 1955 Lola Montes and Josef von Sternberg’s 1930 The Blue Angel in this New Wave reinterpretation of the classic tale of a beautiful cabaret singer and the men in her thrall.
February 26 (Friday): CAMP DE THIAROYE [THE CAMP AT THIAROYE]
Film Screening—7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus
Directed by Ousmane Sembene.
Starring Sidiki Bakaba, Hamed Camara, Philippe Chamelat
(Senegal, 1987, 157 minutes, color, in Wolof and French with English subtitles)
A group of African soldiers who fought valiantly for France during World War II are detained in a prison camp at war’s end because their French colonial masters have grown uneasy with the equality the men have achieved on the battlefield. Sembene’s semi-autobiographical film received the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.
March 5 (Friday): FISTS IN THE POCKET [I PUGNI IN TASCA]
Film Screening—7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus
Directed by Marco Bellocchio
Starring Lou Castel, Paola Pitagora, Marino Masé
(Italy, 1965, 105 minutes, b/w, in Italian with English subtitles)
A shocking and influential black comedy of the Italian New Wave, Fists in the Pocket features the exploits of a disturbed young man who kills off members of his peculiar family to “save” them from various medical afflictions. In the words of one Italian critic, “When it came out, it ripped the collective film imagination to shreds.”
March 12 (Friday): LA NOUBA DES FEMMES DU MONT-CHENOUA [THE SONG OF THE WOMEN OF MOUNT CHENOUA]
Film Screening—7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus
Directed by Assia Djebar
Starring Sawsan Noweif, Mohamed Haymour, Zohra Sahraoui
(Algeria, 1977, 115 minutes, color, in Arabic with English subtitles)
In her inventive, experimental debut as film director, major Maghrebi fiction writer Assia Djebar borrows the structure of the nouba, a five-part traditional song, to tell the story of a woman who returns to the town of her childhood fifteen years after the violent War of Independence.
March 19 (Friday): AFTER LIFE [WANDÂFURU RAIFU]
Film Screening—7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus
Directed by Hirokazu Kore-Eda
Starring Arata, Erika Oda, Susumu Terajima
(Japan, 1998, 118 minutes, color, in Japanese with English subtitles)
A deliberately spare, thoughtful work, After Life presents a kind of antechamber to heaven in which the recently deceased are asked to choose a single cherished memory to preserve for all eternity. Stephen Holden of the New York Times called it a “brilliant, humorous, transcendently compassionate film.”
April 9 (Friday): LE JOUR SE LÈVE [DAYBREAK]
Film Screening—7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus
Directed by Marcel Carné
Starring Jean Gabin, Jules Berry, Arletty
(France, 1939, 88 minutes, b/w, in French with English subtitles)
A factory worker kills his rival in love, then barricades himself inside his apartment to weather an armed siege by the police, all the while recalling the events that led to the crime. A masterpiece of “realist” cinema from major French director Marcel Carné.
April 16 (Friday): THE TALES OF HOFFMANN
Film Screening—7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus
Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Starring Moira Shearer, Ludmilla Tchérina, Anne Ayars
(United Kingdom, 1951, 128 minutes, color)
A young man’s dreams of past romantic adventures come to life on the screen in this exquisite blend of music, ballet and cinematic effects. Directed by the famous team of Powell and Pressburger (The Red Shoes), and based on the 1881 opera by Jacques Offenbach and the stories of E. T. A. Hoffmann.
April 23 (Friday): LITTLE OLD NEW YORK
Film Screening—7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus
Directed by Sidney Olcott
Starring Marion Davies, Stephen Carr, J. M. Kerrigan
(United States, 1923, 106 minutes, b/w)
SILENT with live piano accompaniment by Mike Schiffer
An Irish immigrant lass comes to New York City disguised as a boy to claim her dead brother’s inheritance in this charming historical drama set against the background of real events, including the 1807 launch of Robert Fulton’s steamboat on the Hudson River.
For additional information contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or online at http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst.
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