Bill Remembers Mario on Time Warner Cable News

William Kennedy sat for a interview on Friday 1/9 about the legacy of former Governor with the New York State of Politics program of Time Warner Cable News.

"It was Mario Cuomo’s second week in office when he sent a handwritten letter to an English professor at the University at Albany. That letter kicked off what would become a life-long friendship between William Kennedy and the former governor. So, when Kennedy pitched his idea for the New York State Writer’s Institite a year later, Mario Cuomo pushed the idea into state law. We talked to Kennedy at the University at Albany about the former governor."

Here's the link:  http://www.nystateofpolitics.com/2015/01/william-kennedy-remembers-mario/

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Mario Cuomo's Legacy Lives on at the Institute

NYS Writers Institute Director Don Faulkner is interviewed about Mario Cuomo's legacy on Time Warner Cable News:

“It's clearly one of his legacies. He gave us the power to do these things he gave the state this whole opportunity to have access to all these writers,” said Faulkner. “And as we've expanded our archive, it'll bring in more and more people across the state. It's a vast resource as it's developed over the years and it's a testament to him.” -

See more at: http://albany.twcnews.com/content/news/798131/mario-cuomo-s-legacy-lives-on-for-state-organizations/#sthash.zrcw58EP.dpuf

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Bill Remembers Mario

In an appearance yesterday on NBC television affiliate WNYT 13, William Kennedy reflects on his friendship with Mario Cuomo who died on January 1st, 2015.

“He was the best orator we've had since FDR and Martin Luther King,” said Kennedy.

More:  http://wnyt.com/article/stories/s3665498.shtml

Picture: Cuomo signs legislation creating the New York State Writers Institute in 1984. William Kennedy stands behind him, flanked by State Senator Tarky Lombardi (left) and Assemblyman William Passannante (right).

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Mario Cuomo (1932-2015)

The New York State Writers Institute mourns the passing of Mario Cuomo, former New York Governor and a very dear friend of the Institute, who signed into law the legislation that created our organization in 1984.

Cuomo came to the Institute to celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2009, his first public appearance in Albany since leaving the Governor's mansion in 1994. On that occasion, he shared the stage at Page Hall with historian Doris Kearns Goodwin (pictured here).

More about his visit here:  http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/cuomo_goodwin09.html 

The New York Times obituary:  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/02/nyregion/mario-cuomo-new-york-governor-and-liberal-beacon-dies-at-82.html?_r=0http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/02/nyregion/mario-cuomo-new-york-governor-and-liberal-beacon-dies-at-82.html?_r=0

More photos from the 25th Anniversary here:  http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/celebrate25.pdf

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Doris Kearns-Goodwin's Lincoln on Big Screen

Doris Kearns-Goodwin, a repeat guest at the Institute, is the author of Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, which will coming to theaters in November 2012 as a movie directed by Stephen Spielberg, and starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln [pictured here].

"And contrary to the rumors that often follow the There Will Be Blood star's methodology, the director says that his lead wasn't pretending to be Lincoln for months at a time. 'Daniel was always conscious of his contemporary surroundings,' Spielberg says. 'Daniel never went into a fugue state. He did not channel Lincoln. All that stuff is just more about gossip than it is about technique."

More about the film in Entertainment Weekly.

Kearns-Goodwin last visited us in 2009 to share the stage with former Governor Mario Cuomo and celebrate the New York State Writers Institute's 25th Anniversary.

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25th Anniversary Celebration Updates

The work of the Institute has been all-consuming of late, and to note that we haven't posted since early October is, well, an embarrassment, both of silences, and of riches. Sometimes it's wonderful to have so many things going on that you can't stop to whistle at them.

On November 16 we celebrated our 25th anniversary with a highlight film and remarks by Mario Cuomo, the former governor of New York who signed the establishing legislation for the formation of the NYSWI into law, and Doris Kearns Goodwin, biographer/historian who has appeared at the Writers Institute six times since its inception.

Visits prior to that, by Richard Russo, Lorrie Moore, Don DeLillo, Russell Banks, Henry Louis Gates, and others (celebrations of Rumi, and Jazz history included), will be chronicled in due course. Sometimes it's better to be living than to be blogging!

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