NPR's Best Books of 2013

NPR's list of the 200 Best Books of 2013 is replete with books by past and recent visitors to the New York State Writers Institute, including  Ayana Mathis (pictured here), who came this month to present The Twelve Tribes of Hattie; Goli Taraghi who came in October to present The Pomegranate Lady and Her Sons; James Salter who visited last April to present All That Is; and George Saunders who came last February to present Tenth of December.

Other past visitors on the list include Ruth Ozeki, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Jill Lepore, Nikki Giovanni, Edwidge Danticat, Ben Katchor, Howard Norman, Julian Barnes, Margaret Atwood, Frank Bidart, Susan Choi, Charles Simic, Gregory Orr, Robert Pinsky, Alice McDermott, Tom Barbash, Nicholas Delbanco, Dave Eggers, James McBride, Meg Wolitzer, and Karen Russell.

Complete NPR list:  http://apps.npr.org/best-books-2013/

Read More......

Writers Institute Holiday Book List

Are you searching for a book for that hard-to-please person on your holiday gift list? To help you narrow down your choices here are a few recommendations of recent books by a number of writers who visited the Writers Institute in 2013. The list represents different genres and subject matter that should appeal to a wide range of tastes and interests. And while you are looking for that special gift for someone else, you just may find something for yourself....

More:  http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/wiholidaylist13.html

Read More......

This Week's Summer Reading Recommendations

3 out of 9 of Publishers Weekly's summer reading picks for the week of July 8th are new books by NYS Writers Institute visitors....

Chris Bohjalian, who brought out the Armenian community in droves this past April for The Sandcastle Girls:

"The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian (Doubleday) - An exploration of post-WWII Italy doubles as a murder mystery in this entertaining historical whodunit from Bohjalian (The Sandcastle Girls). In 1952 Florence, Francesca Rosati, a dress-shop worker, is brutally murdered by a killer who carves out her heart, and Detective Serafina Bettini is assigned to solve the homicide."

Howard Norman, regular visitor to the Summer Writers Institute, who reads again on July 25:

"I Hate to Leave This Beautiful Place by Howard Norman (HMH) - In this luminous memoir, novelist Norman (The Bird Artist) recalls moments of 'arresting strangeness,' even in the midst of his quest to gain clarity and stay balanced emotionally. Norman writes of five places where he lived and the characters he met in each, providing him with an opportunity to reflect on his life. With a twinge of melancholy and a steely resolve not to let himself be moved or hurt, Norman regales us with his tale of lust, death (he inadvertently kills a swan on a local lake), and disappointment that mark his teenage summer of 1964 in Grand Rapids, Mich."

And Stacey D'Erasmo who visited us in 2009:

"The Art of Intimacy: The Space Between by Stacey D’Erasmo (Graywolf) - Part of Graywolf’s “Art of” series on the craft of writing, edited by Charles Baxter, this first work of nonfiction by novelist D’Erasmo (The Sky Below) examines the concept of intimacy and the ways this mysterious phenomenon has been conveyed by writers, visual artists, and filmmakers. D’Erasmo organizes the book into chapters based on the places where intimacy occurs, and the results are lucid and provocative."

More:  http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/tip-sheet/article/58057-pw-picks-the-best-new-books-for-the-week-of-july-8-2013.html?utm_source=Publishers+Weekly&utm_campaign=27e6247d6a-UA-15906914-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0bb2959cbb-27e6247d6a-304669825

Read More......