NYS Writers Institute Events Week of September 28 - October 4, 2009

Joseph O'Neill, Novelist, Author of "Netherland" (2008) President Obama's First Book for Pleasure Reading Since Becoming President, to Read September 29, 2009

Joseph O'Neill, author of the novel, "Netherland" (2008), winner of the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Award and President Obama's first choice for pleasure reading since assuming the presidency, will read from his work on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. in the Assembly Hall, Campus Center, on the University at Albany's uptown campus. Earlier that same day at 4:15 p.m. the author will present an informal seminar in the same location. The events are sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute and are free and open to the public.


Joseph O'Neill, Irish-Turkish novelist, is the winner of the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Award for "Netherland," the story of a multiracial group of immigrant cricket players living in New York City. "New Yorker" critic James Wood called the book "Exquisitely written," and "one of the most remarkable postcolonial books I have ever read."

The book features a Dutch-born narrator, Hans van den Broek, a New York-based equities analyst whose wife abandons him shortly after the collapse of the World Trade Center, taking their son Jake with her back to London. Van den Broek seeks solace and friendship by joining a cricket league made up of West Indian and Asian New Yorkers. He strikes up an unlikely friendship with Chuck Ramkissoon, a charismatic hustler from Trinidad who works for the Russian mob. Ramkissoon's ambition— his personal version of the American dream— is to build a cricket stadium in Brooklyn.

Novelist Jonathan Safran Foer said in advance praise, "'Netherland' is suspenseful, artful, psychologically pitch-perfect, and a wonderful read. But more than any of that, it's revelatory. Joseph O'Neill has managed to paint the most famous city in the world, and the most familiar concept in the world (love) in an entirely new way." Writing in the "New York Times Book Review," Dwight Garner said, "'Netherland' has more life inside it than ten very good novels," and called it, "the wittiest, angriest, most exacting and most desolate work of fiction we've yet had about life in New York and London after the World Trade Center fell." The "Times" also named it one of the "Ten Best Books of 2008."

In "Netherland," the Dutch protagonist's voyage of discovery in post-9/11 New York evokes— symbolically— an earlier age of European exploration in North America.

Last May, President Obama revealed that he had taken up "Netherland" as bedtime reading. In a "Newsweek" interview he called it, "Fascinating…. A wonderful book," and in a BBC World Service interview he called it "An excellent novel." His endorsement gave "Netherland" a substantial boost in sales and pushed it on to a number of national and international bestseller lists.

The son of an Irish father and a Turkish mother, O'Neill was born in Cork, Ireland and grew up in the Netherlands. His previous books include the novels "This Is the Life" (1991) and "The Breezes" (1996), and the memoir, "Blood Dark Track" (2001), a "New York Times" Notable Book for 2002, and a Book of the Year for the "Economist" and the "Irish Times." "Blood Dark Track" explores the lives of O'Neill's grandfathers, one Irish and an IRA soldier, the other Turkish and a suspected Axis spy, both imprisoned by the British for political crimes during World War II. The "Times Literary Supplement" said, "The progress of his investigations are imbued with all the darkening excitement of a novel by le Carre or Greene."

For additional information, contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or online at http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst.


Tom Lewis, Author of "The Hudson: a History" to Speak as Part of the Hudson Quadricentennial, September 30, 2009

Tom Lewis, author of "The Hudson: A History," will speak as part of the Hudson 400 celebration on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. [NOTE EARLY START TIME] in the Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center, on the University at Albany's uptown campus. The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the New York State Archives Partnership Trust, the New York State Writers Institute, and UAlbany's Offices of the President and Provost, as part of UAlbany's Hudson 400 theme semester. Reception and book signing to follow.

Tom Lewis is a professor of English at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, and the author of "The Hudson: A History" (2005), a grand retelling of the river's past featuring well-known and little-known stories of explorers, traders, soldiers, artists, politicians, writers, industrialists and environmental crusaders.

Filmmaker Ken Burns said, "What Tom Lewis has so wonderfully done here is willed to life one of the great rivers in our history, insisting that it offer up its deep secrets and best stories." Author Kenneth T. Jackson said in advance praise, "Few places in America can match the beauty, the majesty, and the historic significance of the Hudson River. Thanks to Tom Lewis's elegant style, penetrating observations, and marvelous illustrations, we at last have a book worthy of such a grand topic."

The "Booklist" reviewer said, "The incomparable beauty of the Hudson Valley, somehow surviving the effluent poured into it, connects the individuals and events appearing in Lewis' chronological story, becoming explicit when he takes up the famously ethereal Hudson school of landscape painting. Spanning armies and aesthetics, the versatile, fluid Lewis writes with affection for the river and its history." The "New York Post" reviewer said, "No book I know so beautifully interweaves history, art, writing and commerce."

Earlier books by Lewis include "Divided Highways: Building the Interstate Highways, Transforming American Life" (1997) and "Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio" (1991). The "Chicago Tribune" said of "Divided Highways," "Anyone who has ever driven on a U. S. interstate highway or eaten at an exit-ramp McDonald's will come away from this book with a better understanding of what makes modern America what it is." "School Library Journal" said that "Empire of the Air," is "fast-paced, fun reading and doubles as a useful teaching tool for teachers of American history and culture, science, and mass communication."

Both books were made into acclaimed PBS documentaries. Lewis codirected the film version of "Divided Highways," which received a 1997 Peabody Award. Ken Burns directed "Empire of the Air" (1991), which earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Informational Special.

The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the New York State Archives Partnership Trust, the New York State Writers Institute, and UAlbany's Offices of the President and Provost, as part of UAlbany's Hudson 400 theme semester. A reception and book signing will follow Lewis's presentation.

For additional information, contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or online at http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst.


Java Poets Collective to Offer Celebratory Reading to Launch Publication of "Java Wednesdays" October 4, 2009

The Java Poets Collective, a group that grew out of a New York State Writers Institute community workshop taught by poet Cara Benson, will launch the publication of its first chapbook, "Java Wednesdays," with a group reading on Sunday, October 4, 2009 from 2-4 p.m. at Professor Java's Coffee Sanctuary, 217 Wolf Road in Albany. The event is free and open to the public.

In spring 2006 the New York State Writers Institute offered a workshop in poetry conducted by Cara Benson. Following the conclusion of the workshop the participants continued to meet independently, forming the Java Poets Collective. The group is publishing "Java Wednesdays," a chapbook of their work, and will launch its release with a reading. Readers include Deb Adler, Joe Capobianco, Maria DeLucia-Evans, Gwen Gould, Scott Hicks, Nick Kling, Cecele Kraus, Suzanne Myers, Terry Royne, Jan Tramontano, Amy White, and the group's former instructor, Cara Benson.

Cara Benson was recently chosen by Belladonna Press to participate in the Belladonna Elders Series, a program that enables emerging writers to guest-host readings with major writers "who influence and inspire them." Benson hosted pioneering American performance poets Anne Waldman and Jayne Cortez, an event commemorated in the book, "Belladonna Elder Series #7" (2009).

Forthcoming books by Benson include "Predictions" (2009) and "(made)" (2010). She also edits the online journal "Sous Rature." Her writing appears in print and online in "88," "HOW2," "EOAGH," "Sentence," "BoogCity," "Tarpaulin Sky," and elsewhere. Chapbooks include "Quantum Chaos and Poems: A Manifest(o)ation" (2nd printing, 2008), "Spell/ing ( ) Bound," and "Up" (2008-9). In addition to teaching for Skidmore College, Benson conducts a poetry workshop every Tuesday with male inmates at Mt. McGregor Correctional Facility in upstate New York.

The New York State Writers Institute offers free non-credit writing workshops throughout the academic year in a variety of genres and levels for members of the community at large. Workshops are taught by writers-in-residence who have distinguished themselves both for their writing and their teaching. The workshops are open to all applicants on a competitive basis.

In addition to Cara Benson, authors conducting workshops at the Institute have included Douglas Bauer, Elizabeth Benedict, Langdon Brown, Angela Carter, Lydia Davis, Carolyn Forché, Douglas Glover, Eamon Grennan, James Lasdun, Antonine Maillet, Judith Malina, John Montague, Joan Murray, William Patrick, Jerome Rothenberg, Edward Sanders, Le Anne Schreiber, Richard Selzer and Rebecca Wolff.

For additional information, contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or online at http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst.


"Blue Moon" to be Screened on October 2, 2009

"Blue Moon" (United States, 2000, 89 minutes, color, directed by John A. Gallagher) will be shown on Friday, October 2 at 7:30 p.m. in Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, on the University at Albany's downtown campus. Sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute, the screening is free and open to the public.

After forty years of marriage, a couple, played by Rita Moreno and Ben Gazzara, attempts to rekindle romance at their favorite Catskill retreat in this magical-realist fable. The story is told in flashbacks as the couple makes a wish upon a blue moon. The "New York Times" called the film "A credible and touching portrait of a marriage…."

Rita Moreno, award-winning performer, will appear at the Writers Institute on Wednesday, October 7 to present the 14th annual Burian Lecture at 8 p.m. in Page Hall on the UAlbany downtown campus.

For additional information contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or online at http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst.