Thursday, July 30, 2015

Kennedy Remembers Doctorow in the Times Union

In Wednesday's Times Union, William Kennedy remembers his friend, E. L. Doctorow, who passed away on July 21, 2015:

"I feel something has gone out of American life with Ed gone and the other great writers we've lost," Kennedy said, mentioning the death of James Salter last month, Peter Matthiessen last year and Norman Mailer and Joe Heller in years past.

"In a certain sense, those were the guys I was talking to when I was writing," he said. "We were having long conversations with each other and the world in our novels."

More in the TU (new subscribers may need to sign up for TU+):
http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-local/article/William-Kennedy-on-E-L-Doctorow-and-the-Albany-6411203.php

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Wednesday, July 22, 2015

E. L. Doctorow (1931-2015)

The New York State Writers Institute mourns the loss of E. L. Doctorow, novelist and editor. As an editor at The Dial Press, Doctorow acquired William Kennedy's first novel, The Ink Truck, in 1968.

Doctorow served as New York State Author under the Institute's sponsorship from 1989 to 1991.

Kennedy's 50 year friendship with Doctorow is detailed in a 2014 Times Union article by E. L. Doctorow at the time of his last visit to Albany in March 2014:

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/A-literary-friendship-spanning-five-decades-5289119.php

The New York Times obituary is here:  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/22/books/el-doctorow-author-of-historical-fiction-dies-at-84.html?_r=0

Doctorow's State Author page:  http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/doctorow.html

YouTube footage from Doctorow's visit here in 2014:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLSc-ovXhTKHdJMhm8WSYAJ2-0McMME_0v&v=fOvEeCPj4yQ

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Monday, July 13, 2015

William Kennedy and Amy Hempel read at Skidmore

William Kennedy and Amy Hempel read tonight in the Davis Auditorium of Palamountain Hall at Skidmore College, 8PM, Monday, July 13th, as part of the 29th annual New York State Summer Writers Institute reading series.

The event is free and open to the public.

For directions:  https://www.skidmore.edu/directions/

For more about the reading series, which runs through July 24:
http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/#.VaP7R1_D_s0

Upcoming authors include:

JULY 14: Ann Beattie and Tom Healy.
JULY 15: Rick Moody and Lloyd Schwartz.
JULY 16: Nick Flynn and Adam Braver.
JULY 17: Robert Pinsky and Peg Boyers
JULY 20: Cristina Garcia and Wayne Koestenbaum
JULY 21: Russell Banks and Chase Twichell.JULY 22: Laura Kipnis and Jim Miller.
JULY 23: Jamaica Kincaid and Henri Cole.
JULY 24: Paul Harding and Binnie Kirshenbaum.

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