Douglas Bauer's new collection of essays about life and death and his Iowa farm boyhood is reviewed in his hometown newspaper, the eastern Iowa Gazette, October 27, 2013:
"While it’s common to wonder what happens after we die, it’s not as common — or as pleasing a discussion at a party, say — to speculate on how we will age and eventually pass."
"However, this question posed itself quite plainly to author and essayist Douglas Bauer when, in his early sixties, he found himself needing a series of routine surgical procedures. As he was waking up from the first of two cataract surgeries, Bauer received word that his mother passed away.This experience was the catalyst for Bauer’s moving collection of personal essays, 'What Happens Next?' (University of Iowa Press)."
Read more in The Gazette: http://thegazette.com/2013/10/27/essayist-douglas-bauer-examines-future-exquisitely/
Read more about Douglas Bauer's event tomorrow, Tuesday, 10/28: http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/bauer_douglas13.html
Monday, October 28, 2013
"Essayist Douglas Bauer examines future exquisitely"
Friday, April 26, 2013
The Feminine Mystique at 50
Here's a bit of the introduction: "Every writer yearns to create a book that will seize the moment — to perfectly encapsulate the problem of an era before other people even notice the problem exists. Of course, that almost never happens. Mostly we’re happy if we can manage to explain, in an interesting way, something people already know is going on. But Betty Friedan won the gold ring. When “The Feminine Mystique” emerged in 1963, it created a reaction so intense that Friedan could later write another book about the things women said to her about the first one (“It Changed My Life”). If there’s a list of the most important books of the 20th century, “The Feminine Mystique” is on it. It also made one conservative magazine’s exclusive roundup of the “10 most harmful books of the 19th and 20th centuries,” which if not flattering is at least a testimony to the wallop it packed."
More in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/magazine/the-feminine-mystique-at-50.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
More about Gail Collins' visit: http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/collins_gail13.html
Picture: Betty Friedan (UPI). Read More......
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
The Mathematics of Writing a Novel
Bestselling novelist Manil Suri will deliver a powerpoint presentation about the mathematical thinking behind his new novel, The City of Devi (2013), Friday, 8PM, UAlbany Campus Center.
From a Mumbai-based reviewer:
"The highlight of the programme was Suri’s power point presentation (ppt) on his novel. It was definitely the most entertaining ppt I’ve ever sat through in my life, besides being the first one by an author on his novel."
"Suri had included sound effects, cut-outs of faces to represent his characters, and used visual elements such as a maze and a pomegranate to illustrate the various aspects of his novel. The most fascinating dimension of his writing process was the mingling of the literary and the mathematical."
"He had actually plotted the various narrative arcs, only to end up with ‘mathematical proof’ that The City of Devi could not be written. Just as he was ready to give up, his agent/editor wanted to take a look at whatever he’d written till then. He decided to polish the draft one last time before sending it to her. And that’s when he found a way to approach his material afresh, and eventually managed to ‘balance’ the fictional equation."
Read more in DNA India: http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/1792748/report-third-degree-manil-suri-and-the-mystery-of-the-closed-door-book-launch
More on Suri's visit: http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/suri_manil13.html
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Vivien Ng and James Acker at the Movies
Vivien Ng is chair of the UAlbany Women's Studies Department and the first president of the National Women's Studies Association (1993-4). More on Vivien: http://www.albany.edu/womensstudies/fac-ngv.shtml
James Acker is Distinguished Teaching Professor of the School of Criminal Justice and author of the standard textbook, Criminal Procedure: A Contemporary Perspective (1999, now in its 3rd edition, 2012). More on Acker: http://www.albany.edu/scj/james_acker.php Read More......