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

Read More......

Chinua Achebe Dies

Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, giant of world literature, who visited the Writers Institute on October 15, 1998, has died.

Though he never received the Nobel Prize, his 1958 novel, Things Fall Apart, is the world's most widely read African novel.

See an excerpt from his talk here in Albany on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZNAMPsmS4I

Read a BBC obituary here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21898664

Read the New York Times obit here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/23/world/africa/chinua-achebe-nigerian-writer-dies-at-82.html?_r=0

NPR obit here: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/03/22/175025166/chinua-achebe-nigerian-author-of-things-fall-apart-dies

Photo: Video still,  Achebe at the New York State Writers Institute.

Read More......