The Writers Institute Fall 2015 schedule of events offers
a rich variety of genres, from poetry to science writing to fiction to history
to memoir to filmmaking and theatre. The upcoming series will even include a
food writer—New York Times columnist and bestselling cookbook author
Mark Bittman, whose work has been described by PBS as a “bible of basic cooking
for millions of Americans.”
The series will showcase two extraordinary former
students at UAlbany—journalist Tom Junod, who holds the all-time record for
National Magazine Award nominations (eleven!), and Edward Burns, director,
actor, and one of the most prolific and influential independent filmmakers
currently at work. Burns will present his new memoir, Independent Ed (2015),
about which Matt Lauer of Today said, “Every young, hungry, creative
person should view this as a textbook.... It’s a how-to.”
Other guests will include Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Rachel Grady; young adult novelist Jason Reynolds, winner of the American Library Association's Coretta Scott King Award; major American short story writer Ann Beattie; Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Adam Johnson; bestselling horror novelist Peter Straub; National Book Award finalist Mary Gaitskill; "Best New Documentary Filmmaker" at the Tribeca Film Festival, Sean Dunne; trail-blazing neuroscience writer Casey Schwartz; Vonnegut biographer Ginger Strand; and major American dramatist Tina Howe.
For more on the Visiting Writers Series, visit: http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/programpages/vws.html#.VdXvw1_D_s1
For more on the Classic Film Series, visit: http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/programpages/cfs.html#.VdXwQF_D_s0
We hope to see you soon!
Thursday, August 20, 2015
New Fall Series!
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Kennedy Remembers Doctorow in the Times Union
In Wednesday's Times Union, William Kennedy remembers his friend, E. L. Doctorow, who passed away on July 21, 2015:
"I feel something has gone out of American life with Ed gone and the other great writers we've lost," Kennedy said, mentioning the death of James Salter last month, Peter Matthiessen last year and Norman Mailer and Joe Heller in years past.
"In a certain sense, those were the guys I was talking to when I was writing," he said. "We were having long conversations with each other and the world in our novels."
More in the TU (new subscribers may need to sign up for TU+):
http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-local/article/William-Kennedy-on-E-L-Doctorow-and-the-Albany-6411203.php
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
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
Monday, July 13, 2015
William Kennedy and Amy Hempel read at Skidmore
William Kennedy and Amy Hempel read tonight in the Davis Auditorium of Palamountain Hall at Skidmore College, 8PM, Monday, July 13th, as part of the 29th annual New York State Summer Writers Institute reading series.
The event is free and open to the public.
For directions: https://www.skidmore.edu/directions/
For more about the reading series, which runs through July 24:
http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/#.VaP7R1_D_s0
Upcoming authors include:
JULY 14: Ann Beattie and Tom Healy.
JULY 15: Rick Moody and Lloyd Schwartz.
JULY 16: Nick Flynn and Adam Braver.
JULY 17: Robert Pinsky and Peg Boyers
JULY 20: Cristina Garcia and Wayne Koestenbaum
JULY 21: Russell Banks and Chase Twichell.JULY 22: Laura Kipnis and Jim Miller.
JULY 23: Jamaica Kincaid and Henri Cole.
JULY 24: Paul Harding and Binnie Kirshenbaum.
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Apply to the NYS Summer Writers Institute!
To apply: https://www.skidmore.edu/summerwriters/workshops.php
Students may enroll for two weeks (June 29 - July 10 or July 13-24) or for the entire four-week session (June 29-July 24).
For questions and concerns, please call, fax, mail, or email:
Read More......
2015 NYS Summer Writers Institute Reading Series
The Summer Writers Institute at Skidmore in Saratoga will run from July 29 through July 24.
All readings are at 8PM in Davis Auditorium, Palamountain Hall, Skidmore College, 815 N. Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866.
For more information: 518-580-5000, info@skidmore.edu
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
UAlbany launched Pulitzer drama winner Stephen Adly Guirgis
Paul Grondahl interviews Stephen Adly Guirgis in the Times Union:
Guirgis, 50, and his unlikely career trajectory could be viewed as a kind of patron saint for late bloomers, slackers and second chances.
"I wasn't a great student, but it took me more than six years because I kept changing my major," Guirgis said Tuesday by phone from his apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side. "In my last two years, I became a theater major and things really started to click. At the time, Albany was known as a business school and we were kind of like a weird group, but we were always doing something, creating shows, and we stuck together."
More in the Times Union: http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-local/article/UAlbany-launched-Pulitzer-drama-winner-Stephen-6215221.php
More about Guirgis's 2010 visit to the Writers Institute: http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/guirgis_stephen10.html