John Leland, New York Times reporter and bestselling author, to visit NYS Writers Institute

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John Leland book, "Happiness is a Choice You Make"

• Author and New York Times reporter John Leland

ALBANY, NY (09/07/2018) (readMedia)-- EVENT DETAILS:

New York Times reporter John Leland, author of the national bestseller, Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons from a Year Among the Oldest Old (2018), will visit the NYS Writers Institute at the University of Albany on Thursday, Sept. 13, for two events: a presentation/Q&A at 9 a.m. cosponsored by the Albany Guardian Society and held at the Carondelet Hospitality Center, 385 Watervliet Shaker Road, Latham, and a craft talk at 4:15 p.m. at the Alumni House Conference Room, UAlbany. Both events are free and open to the public, although the morning event is at capacity. To sign up for a wait list, call 518-434-2140.

MEDIA RELEASE:

Albany, NY - New York Times reporter John Leland, author of the national bestseller, Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons from a Year Among the Oldest Old (2018), will visit the NYS Writers Institute at the University of Albany on Thursday, Sept. 13, for two events.

Leland will be guest speaker at a morning presentation co-sponsored by The Albany Guardian Society at 9 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 13, at the Carondelet Hospitality Center, 385 Watervliet Shaker Road, Latham. While the event is currently at capacity, those interested may sign up for a wait list by calling the Society at 518-434-2140.

Later that same day, Leland will give a craft talk and answer audience questions at 4:15 p.m. at the Alumni House Conference Room on the University at Albany campus. Free parking will be available in the Dutch Quad lot. For a map, visit https://www.albany.edu/map/img/ualbany-campus-map.pdf

In 2015, when Leland set out on behalf of The New York Times to meet members of America's fastest-growing age group, he anticipated learning of challenges, of loneliness, and of the deterioration of body, mind, and quality of life. But the elders he met took him in an entirely different direction. Despite disparate backgrounds and circumstances, they each lived with a surprising lightness and contentment. The reality Leland encountered upended contemporary notions of aging, revealing the late stages of life as unexpectedly rich and the elderly as incomparably wise. Happiness Is a Choice You Make is a book that challenges accepted notions about aging, contentment and quality of life.

Eminent health columnist Jane Brody called it, "inspired and inspiring," and AARP The Magazine called it, "uplifting and wise" and a starred review in Kirkus also praised the book, "Engrossing . . . Few books about aging show such clarity and purpose or so deftly blend clear-eyed examinations of social issues with a realistic but hopeful cast of mind. In this edifying and often quite moving book, Leland presents the "lessons" taught by his subjects even as they themselves are learning them, and he does so with an empathy and thoroughness that deserve our gratitude."

A former senior editor at Newsweek, Leland is also the author of Hip: The History (2004), "an insightful chronicle of cool" (Esquire), and Why Kerouac Matters: The Lessons of On the Road (2007).

Cosponsored by The Albany Guardian Society: Service to Seniors in the Capital District. Founded in 1852, Albany Guardian Society (AGS) is one of the Capital Region's oldest charitable foundations. Its mission is to engage in a wide range of endeavors including education, research, information, and community engagement that will improve the quality of life for seniors, their families, and caregivers. AGS has hosted national and regional speakers in the field of aging to speak on such topics as aging-in-place, care coordination, caregiver support, positive approaches to dementia care, hoarding, and understanding Medicare.

For videos of Leland, visit https://www.nyswritersinstitute.org. For additional information contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or at writers@albany.edu.

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