New Event! Sacco & Vanzetti Brown Bag Lunch 2/21

You are invited to bring your lunch to the following free events:

February 21 (Tuesday): THE TRIALS AND EXECUTIONS OF SACCO AND VANZETTI...
Discussion-- 12:15 pm, Husted Hall, Room 014, University at Albany Downtown Campus
Moderator: Frankie Bailey, Ph.D. – Professor of Criminal Justice
Panelists: Gerald Zahavi, Ph.D. – Professor of History, “The Anarchist World of Sacco and Vanzetti”
Richard Hamm, Ph.D. – Professor of History, “What the Sacco and Vanzetti Case Meant to One Legal Liberal”
Picture:  Ben Shahn's Sacco and Vanzetti
Sponsored by the School of Criminal Justice’s “Crime and Multiculturalism in the 21st Century”
series in association with Friday’s free upcoming film event:

February 24 (Friday): SACCO AND VANZETTI
Film screening followed by a conversation with director Peter Miller and film editor Amy Linton — 7:00 p.m. [note early start time], Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus
Directed by Peter Miller (United States, 2006, 80 minutes, color)
This documentary, winner of the American Historical Association’s best film award, tells the story of two Italian politically radical immigrants charged with the 1920 robbery of a Massachusetts shoe factory and the murder of two of its employees. As it recounts their trials, public protests, and appeals on their behalf the film offers insights into present-day issues of civil liberties and immigrant rights. Ken Burns called it “A wonderful film, as timeless as the struggle for human justice, as relevant as today’s headlines.”
Peter Miller is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose films include the theatrically-released A.K.A. DOC POMUS, JEWS AND BASEBALL, and SACCO AND VANZETTI. He has directed numerous documentaries for PBS and has been a producer for documentaries by Ken Burns and Lynn Novak including THE WAR and JAZZ, and the Peabody Award-winning FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT.
Amy Linton has edited numerous award-winning films including Julie Dash’s DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST, a Sundance winner that was selected for the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. She has worked on dozens of documentaries, feature films, and music videos in her 25-year career.
Sponsored by the Writers Institute in conjunction with UAlbany’s School of Criminal Justice’s Justice & Multiculturalism in the 21st Century: Crime, Justice, and Public Memory Film Series

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What the Fly Saw in Publishers Weekly

UAlbany Criminal Justice Professor Frankie Bailey's new crime novel, What the Fly Saw (2015), is reviewed in this week's Publishers Weekly:

"The murder of funeral director Kevin Novak, found dead with an arrow in his chest and a skeleton clutched in his arms, propels Bailey’s appealing second near-future mystery featuring Albany, N.Y., detective Hannah McCabe (after 2013’s The Red Queen Dies). Kevin’s family reports that he was coping badly with the sudden death of his best friend, and he was seen acting skittish toward a self-proclaimed psychic, Luanne Woodward, whom he had recently met. In addition, Kevin’s son is showing disturbing signs of irrationality, the minister of Kevin’s church is evasive, and someone serves an arsenic-laden pie with fatal results after a séance. Hannah and her detective partner, Mike Baxter, retrace Kevin’s steps, uncovering evidence that the seemingly steady husband and father was enmeshed in a crisis with significant repercussions for Kevin’s circle. Other deaths, ostensibly from drugs, pose complications for Hannah that promise to carry into the next book, which readers are sure to look forward to. Agent: Josh Getzler, Hannigan Salky Getzler Agency. (Mar.)"

PW link: http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-250-04830-1

Frankie's website:  http://www.frankieybailey.com/

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Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award

A call for applications....

 

The Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award is a one-time grant of $1,500 for an emerging writer of color.

An unpublished writer is preferred, although publication of one work of short fiction or academic work will not disqualify an applicant. This grant is intended to support the recipient in activities related to writing and career development. These activities include workshops, seminars, conferences, and retreats; online courses; and research activities required for completion of the work.

The grant is administered by Sisters in Crime, a 3,600-member organization of mystery authors, readers, publishers, agents, booksellers and librarians. Sisters in Crime was founded by Sara Paretsky and a group of women at the 1986 Bouchercon in Baltimore. In 2014 the group invites members to: “SinC Up With Great Crime Writing! Our mission is to promote the ongoing advancement, recognition and professional development of women crime writers.”

 

More:  http://www.sistersincrime.org/associations/10614/files/14EleanorTaylorBland-GrantAnnouncement.pdf 

 

Picture: Mystery writer Eleanor Taylor Bland (1944-2010).

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Walter Kirn Interviews Himself in the NY Times

Walter Kirn, who visits the Institute on Tuesday, 3/25, presents a comic and self-deprecating, but incisive profile of himself in Wednesday's New York Times.

"Mr. Kirn’s prickliness and flashes of arrogance seem to disguise a basic insecurity that may explain why he longed for the approval of a con man posing as a blue blood."

More in the Times:  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/books/walter-kirn-interviews-himself-on-blood-will-out.html?emc=eta1&_r=0

More about Kirn's visit:  http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/kirn_walter14.html

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New HBO Series Based on Mosley's Novels

A new HBO series, currently in production and starring Laurence Fishburne, will be based on the "Socrates Fortlow" novels by crime fiction author Walter Mosley (who visits UAlbany today, 2/4). Fishburne reprises his role as Fortlow, an ex-con trying to redeem himself, in an HBO film back in 1998.

From Variety, Nov. 2013: Laurence Fishburne is joining forces with HBO to bring back to life character Socrates Fortlow from the net’s 1998 pic “Always Outnumbered” — this time, as a TV series.

More:  http://variety.com/2013/tv/news/laurence-fishburne-to-star-in-produce-hbo-drama-the-right-mistake-1200860521/#

More about Walter Mosley's visit tonight at the UAlbany Performing Arts Center: http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/programpages/vws.html#walter

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On Crime and Fashion-- Frankie Bailey

Frankie Bailey, who shares the stage tonight with bestselling author Walter Mosley, discusses her forthcoming book on crime and fashion in an interview last year in the Times Union:

The police scanner crackles with a report of a liquor store stickup. The suspect was last seen fleeing on foot, wearing a black hoodie and Yankees cap.

It’s become a uniform of sorts for today’s young, urban street-level criminal with a hip-hop sensibility.

Frankie Y. Bailey, associate professor of criminal justice at the University at Albany, is not surprised by the scanner chatter. She’s been tracking the trend as part of her research for a book-in-progress, tentatively titled “Strip Search: Crime, Justice and Clothing in American Culture.”

More from Paul Grondahl in the Times Union:  http://blog.timesunion.com/localarts/author-revisited-frankie-y-bailey/29769/

More about today's events: http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/mosley_bailey14.html

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Crime is the High Road to Philosophy

 

Walter Mosley, who visits the Writers Institute on Tues. Feb. 4th, was the subject of a memorable profile more than two decades ago in the New York Times:

Crime is the high road to philosophy for Walter Mosley. In fact, what draws him to write mysteries is the chance to attack moral questions, and the novel that has most affected his writing and his outlook is not a crime story but ''The Stranger'' by the French existentialist Albert Camus.

''Mysteries, stories about crime, about detectives, are the ones that really ask the existentialist questions,'' he says, ''such as 'How do I act in an imperfect world when I want to be perfect?' I'm not really into clues and that sort of thing, although I do put them in my stories. I like the moral questions.'' Mr. Mosley's sometimes mischievous humor is habitually expressed in understatement. The ''imperfect world'' in which ''Devil in a Blue Dress'' is set is the Watts section of Los Angeles in the late 1940's. It is an area where policemen and rotten politicians are presiding menaces but no more dangerous to ordinary citizens like Easy Rawlins than some of his neighbors and friends.

More:  http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/11/15/specials/mosley-moral.html

More about Mosley's visit with Frankie Bailey:  http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/mosley_bailey14.html

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A Serial Killer in Albany

Michele Leber reviews Frankie Bailey's new crime fiction novel, The Red Queen Dies (2013), in Booklist. Bailey will share the stage with bestselling author Walter Mosley on Feb. 4th.

More about the events: http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/mosley_bailey14.html

Here's the Booklist review: "In 2019, a serial killer is on the loose in Albany, New York. Two women in their twenties have been murdered by having phenol injected into their hearts, and when Broadway actress Vivian Jessup, known as the Red Queen for her role in Alice in Wonderland, is killed in the same manner, Albany PD detective Hannah McCabe and partner Mike Baxter struggle to connect the dots in what has become an even higher-profile case. In the near future, everyone has an ORB (smartphone successor?), a drug named Lullaby can erase memories of crime victims (but causes a problem when used by a witness), and a threader (blogger successor?) with inside knowledge plagues the police. What has not changed is that crime solving requires hard work and good instincts. McCabe shows she has what it takes to succeed at her work and to win readers. University of Albany criminal justice professor Bailey, author of the Lizzie Stuart mysteries, leaves some intriguing questions unanswered in this strong start to a projected series."

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Walter Mosley Brings Easy Rawlins Back from the Grave

 

Bestselling crime fiction author Walter Mosley, who visits UAlbany this coming Tuesday, 2/4, brings
back his iconic detective "Easy Rawlins," who drove his car over a cliff some years ago, to star in a new mystery novel set in Los Angeles during the heyday of "Flower Power."

More about Mosley's upcoming visit with crime author and UAlbany professor Frankie Bailey: http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/programpages/vws.html#walter

R. A. Brooks Sr. has a review in Black Books and Reviews:

"Powered by some weird concoction called Gator’s Blood given to him by good friend and conjure woman Mama Jo, [Rawlins'] latest journey takes him to the Los Angeles hippie culture and community in 1967. It is a world of free love, psychedelic drugs and for the first time since his days as a soldier in World War II France, Rawlins sees a truly color-blind world."

"But once he steps back outside that world, all the demons, evil and racism remain, stronger than ever. There are the racist cops who want to arrest and destroy him, and the racist thugs who want to kill him. And, oh, the black thugs too."

More:  http://blackbooksandreviews.com/little-green-an-easy-rawlins-mystery-by-walter-mosley/

Picture:  Denzel Washington as Easy Rawlins in the movie adaptation of the first mystery in the series, Devil in a Blue Dress.

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Major Crime Fiction Convention in Albany, Sept. 19-22

This year's Bouchercon (the Anthony Boucher Memorial World Mystery Convention), the world's largest crime fiction convention, will be held at Empire State Plaza in Albany, September 19-22.

Celebrity mystery writers in attendance will include Sue Grafton, Anne Perry, Tess Gerritsen, Steve Hamilton, and others.

Crime fiction fans and writers from all over the world will gather in downtown Albany to celebrate their genre.

The Bouchercon website:  http://bcon2013.com/

There is a fee to register.

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Remembering Elmore Leonard, with Video

See a 2001 episode of "The Writer" featuring the late crime fiction genius Elmore Leonard (1925-2013), based on his visit to the New York State Writers Institute in September 2001, two days before the catastrophe of 9/11.

"The Writer" series was a coproduction of the NYS Writers Institute and PBS television station WMHT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOPDVQNmOMs

Former Institute videographer Hugo Perez, director of "The Writer," introduces.

More on Leonard's visit to Albany: http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/leonardelmore.html

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Troy Street Kid

Bill Kennedy's talk in Saratoga next week:  “I’ll talk about John Morrissey, a Troy street kid and river rat, who rose in the world through his fists and his politics to become an exalted gambler courted by the New York elite and who brought the casino and the track to Saratoga. I’ll talk about latter day gamblers and mob figures who moved into Saratoga — Arnold Rothstein, Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano — how it was all linked to politics, and how a politician — Governor Thomas E. Dewey — closed it down,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy will talk about crime and gambling in early 20th century Saratoga in a one-hour moderated conversation with political talk show host Susan Arbetter at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 1 in the Canfield Casino. The program is free and open to the public.

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Bill Kennedy Explores Saratoga's Hidden Past

Pulitzer Prize winning author William J. Kennedy will explore Saratoga Springs’ gambling past in a one-hour moderated conversation with award winning, syndicated political radio talk show host Susan Arbetter, Wednesday, August 1 at 7 p.m. in the Canfield Casino in Saratoga Springs’ Congress Park. The program is free and open to the public.

In this discussion, Kennedy will draw from a lifetime of research in regional history and personal observation. While much of the talk will focus on the importance of the Spa City as a resort, according to the author, attention will also be directed on the parts of the city seldom discussed. “I’ll talk about John Hennessey, a Troy street kid and river rat, who rose in the world through his fists and his politics to become an exalted gambler courted by the New York elite and who brought the casino and the track to Saratoga. I’ll talk about latter day gamblers and mob figures who moved into Saratoga -- Arnold Rothstein, Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano—how it was all linked to politics, and how a politician -- Governor Thomas E. Dewey—closed it down,” Kennedy said.

Born in Albany and educated at nearby Siena College, Kennedy, a former journalist and one of the nation’s most important living authors, has distinguished himself with books about Albany and its people. His works include The Ink Truck (1969), Legs (1975), Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game (1978), Ironweed (1983, winner of the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; film 1987), and Roscoe (2002).

 

The event is jointly sponsored by the New York State Archives Partnership Trust, the Saratoga Springs History Program, and the New York State Writers Institute. Funding for the program comes from the Alfred Z. Solomon Charitable Trust and the New York Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

For additional information, contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or online at http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst.

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Thieves Everywhere!

"Thieves abound in Lagos, and in this book. Every minute, every page is for the thief-- the pickpocket, the dubious petrol station attendant, the murderous armed robber, the compact disc pirate, the hostage-taking area boy, the bribe-taking police, customs and embassy officers, the thieving politician whose actions and inactions account for power failures and fuel scarcities... [all of it written] in prose that is at once precise and haunting, even long after the final word."

In the Guardian (UK), Tolu Ogunlesi reviewed Teju Cole's Every Day is For the Thief (2007), a novella with photographs about life in Lagos, Nigeria. Cole visits tomorrow 2/10.

Picture: Oil pirates clash with oil companies in the Niger delta.

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Elmore Leonard Returns

Crime novelist Elmore Leonard, who celebrated his 86th birthday last October, and who visited the Writers Institute in 2001, gets reviewed on the front page of Sunday's New York Times Book Review:

"Jazzy prose that occasionally lets go of 'proper usage' is Leonard’s trademark. He’s a stylist of forward motion, placing narrative acceleration above inconveniences like pronouns and helping verbs."

More.

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Why Violence Has Declined

Cognitive scientist Steven Pinker's new book, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined (2011) is being discussed everywhere.

Pinker visited the Institute to talk about his book How the Mind Works in 1997.

From the Christian Science Monitor:

In his latest book The Better Angels of our Nature, Steven Pinker argues that the world has never been a safer place to live in. Looking back at the history of violence from prehistoric times up the present day, Pinker says it became far more beneficial for human beings to be less violent.... More.

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