Dear Readers, Writers, Teachers, Students and All Members of
the General Public,
The New York State Writers Institute at the University at
Albany announces its Spring 2013 schedule of visiting writer appearances and
film series screenings. Events take place on the UAlbany uptown and downtown
campuses and are free and open to the public (unless otherwise noted).
The Spring 2013
Visiting Writers Series features appearances by a Tony-nominated Broadway
actor; a leading voice of the New York Times Editorial and Op-Ed pages; a
visionary scientist who is the "founding father" of nanotechnology; a
Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who explores spiritual and moral crises in
America; a MacArthur fellow who has been called "the funniest writer in
America"; a major American novelist who, at age 87, will present his first
novel in 30 years; and a new, award-winning Ken Burns documentary to be
screened, by special arrangement, eleven days in advance of its national PBS
television air date.
"The new spring 2013 Visiting Writers Series was a
profound pleasure to put together-so many interesting, talented authors!-from
first book writers like the memoirist Christa Parravani and New York historian
Marguerite Holloway, through to well-established novelists like Marilynne
Robinson, Chris Bohjalian, and James Salter, we're once more able to present
the best in contemporary literature. This is one of our strongest line-ups in
recent years," said Institute Director Donald Faulkner.
The season will open with the annual Burian Lecture
delivered by Tony-nominated actor Colman Domingo, a rising star of the American
stage, a "blazingly charismatic performer" (New York Times), and a
playwright whose work has been called, "Wicked, tender, outrageous and
profound" (Newsday).
That same week,
influential futurist and ground-breaking environmental scientist Jorgen Randers
will present his new book, 2052: A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years, a
cautionary view of the earth's future and the collapse of its natural
resources. An opposite forecast is offered at the end of our season by K. Eric
Drexler, the "founding father" of nanotechnology presenting his
latest book, Radical Abundance, which argues that nanoscience will usher in a
new age of plenty. Other nonfiction writers featured this season include noted
photographer Christa Parravani with a piercing memoir about the death of her
identical twin sister; award-winning poet and nature writer Gretel Ehrlich, who
writes about her visits to tsunami-ravaged Japan; Columbia University Science
Journalism program director Marguerite Holloway presenting a deep history of
Manhattan's street grid; colonial historian Russell Shorto, whose work on Dutch
New York "permanently alter[ed] the way we regard our collective past"
(New York Times); and Gail Collins, one of the wittiest political commentators
in American journalism.
George Saunders and
Nathan Englander, major prize-winning short story writers, will be featured
among our visiting fiction writers. UAlbany Professor Emeritus Gene Mirabelli
will present his new novel about the valiant struggles of an aging painter.
Mirabelli will share the stage with Ann Hood, bestselling author of The
Knitting Circle, who is well-known for finding inspiration in the challenges
posed by grief and loss. Eighty-seven-year-old James Salter, one of the most
acclaimed American novelists of the last half century, will present his first
novel in 30 years, All That Is (Salter will not be touring with his book, and
his appearance at the Institute will be a unique privilege). Novelist Marilynne
Robinson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Gilead (2004), will deliver the 72nd
Annual McKinney Reading and Vollmer Fries Lecture at Rensselaer (RPI). Manil
Suri, Indian-American novelist and mathematician, will visit with a new novel
set in Mumbai under threat of nuclear attack. Finally, Chris Bohjalian, a
prolific writer of bestsellers and Oprah Book Club author, will present his new
epic of the Armenian genocide, Sandcastle Girls.
"Our re-energized film series continues its year-long
collaboration with the School of Criminal Justice, and also with film critic J.
Hoberman, who has acted as guest curator in the selection process," said
Faulkner.
The spring selections
for the Future of Film series curated by Hoberman include the Russian 2002
film, RUSSIAN ARK, the French-Taiwanese 2007 film, FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON;
the Romanian 2005 film, THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU; and, in advance of St.
Patrick's Day, HUNGER, an Irish 2008 film about Bobby Sands and the 1981 Prison
Hunger Strike.
The second
mini-series, Justice & Multiculturalism in the 21st Century, is part of a
multifaceted project sponsored by UAlbany's School of Criminal Justice, aimed
at engaging conversations about the intersection of social justice and criminal
justice. The spring series will open with HOMELAND: FOUR PORTRAITS OF NATIVE
ACTION (2006), an artfully constructed film about environmental disasters on
American Indian reservations. The second film will be CENTRAL PARK FIVE (2012),
a new look at the Central Park Jogger case by major documentary filmmaker Ken
Burns, codirected with his daughter Sarah Burns and David McMahon, based on
Sarah Burns' book. The film received "Best Documentary" at the 2012
New York Critics Circle Awards. A member of the film's directorial team is
scheduled to attend the screening and provide commentary. The final film in the
series will be ONCE WERE WARRIORS (1995), a Maori drama about alcoholism and
family violence set in a New Zealand housing project.
As is our tradition,
the Institute will also screen a silent film with live musical
accompaniment-the influential 1921 German film by Fritz Lang, DESTINY [DER MÜDE
TOD], a dark fairy tale about love and death.
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