Children: A Partly Savage Tribe

"There exists in our world an unusual, partly savage tribe, ancient and widely distributed, yet until recently little studied by anthropologists or historians. All of us were at one time members of this tribe: we knew its customs, manners and rituals, its folklore and sacred texts. I refer, of course, to childhood."

So writes Alison Lurie in a 1990 New York Times essay, "A Child's Garden of Subversion." A scholar of children's literature as well as a Pulitzer-winning novelist, Lurie will be inaugurated as New York's newest official State Author, tomorrow, Thursday, Sept. 20 at 8PM in Page Hall on the UAlbany downtown campus. She will share the stage with New York's new State Poet, Marie Howe.