ALBANY, NY (08/29/2016)(readMedia)-- The New York State Writers Institute at the University at Albany announces its Fall 2016 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 Writers Institute Fall 2016 schedule begins with an exciting new program collaboration "The Creative Life: A Conversation Series at UAlbany." Created and produced by the Writers Institute, University Art Museum, and UAlbany's Performing Arts Center, in collaboration with WAMC Public Radio, this new series features leading figures from a variety of artistic disciplines in conversation about their creative inspiration, their craft, and their careers. Joyce Carol Oates, prolific author of more than 160 books, will lead off the series on September 15 followed by Savion Glover, tap dancing legend and Tony award-winning choreographer on October 15.

A second series, "The New Americans: Recent Immigrant Experiences in Fiction, Nonfiction, and Film" examines the experiences of recent immigrant groups in the United States. Guests will include Imbolo Mbue, whose first novel Behold the Dreamers (2016) is a riveting story about a young Cameroonian couple making a new life in New York City just as the depression of the 2000s upends the economy; Anne Fadiman, author of the bestselling nonfiction book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (1997), which explores the clash between Western medicine and the holistic healing traditions of a Hmong refugee family from Laos; and director Mary Mazzio, whose documentary film UNDERWATER DREAMS follows a group of high school students, sons of undocumented Mexican immigrants, who enter a sophisticated underwater robotics competition.

In addition to Joyce Carol Oates and Imbolo Mbue, the fall series includes an exciting lineup of fiction writers: Garth Risk Hallberg, author of the sweeping debut novel City on Fire, a national bestseller; Charles Baxter, who continues his mastery of the short story form with his collection There's Something I Want You to Do; James Lasdun, whose new novel is the psychological thriller The Fall Guy; and Howard Frank Mosher, author of 10 acclaimed novels set in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom.

The genre of poetry is represented by Stephen Burt, one of the most influential poetry critics of his generation, who shares the breadth of his knowledge of American poetry today in his new book The Poem is You: 60 Contemporary American Poems and How to Read Them.

For all those who suffer from periodic moments of dread or worry, or more serious fear and anxiety disorders, neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux presents a comprehensive and accessible exploration of the nature of these problems in his new book Anxious: Using the Brain to Understand and Treat Fear and Anxiety.

Our conflicted relationship with the natural world will be the topic of two events sponsored in conjunction with the UAlbany Art Museum's exhibition Future Perfect: Picturing the Anthropocene. Novelist Jennifer Haigh, whose new novel Heat and Light (2016) explores the allure of fracking for the residents of a ravaged coal town, and Jeff Goodell, author of the nonfiction book How to Cool the Planet: Geoengineering and the Audacious Quest to Fix Earth's Climate will present a joint reading and discussion. As part of the Classic Film Series, screenwriter Kelly Masterson will offer film commentary following the screening of SNOWPIERCER, a science fiction thriller about the survivors of a failed climate-change experiment that inadvertently initiates an ice age.

Additional highlights of the Classic Film Series include screenings of ZOOT SUIT RIOTS, an episode in the PBS American Experience series with commentary by Joseph Tovares, the film's writer and director; a newly restored version of CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT (1965), directed by and starring Orson Welles; the 1924 French silent film L'INHUMAINE (THE INHUMAN WOMAN), with live piano accompaniment by Mike Schiffer; SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE, based on Kurt Vonnegut's powerful anti-war novel; and a 30th Anniversary screening of IRONWEED, adapted for the screen by William Kennedy from his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

The complete listing of the Visiting Writers Series and Classic Film Series schedules follows.

VISITING WRITERS SERIES

The Creative Life: A Conversation Series at UAlbany (September 15 and October 15)

Created and produced by the New York State Writers Institute, University Art Museum, and UAlbany Performing Arts Center in collaboration with WAMC Public Radio, this new series features leading figures from a variety of artistic disciplines in conversation about their creative inspiration, their craft, and their careers. WAMC's "Roundtable" host Joe Donahue will lead the discussions followed by a Q&A with the audience.

Major funding support provided by The University at Albany Foundation

September 15 (Thursday): Joyce Carol Oates, fiction writer, essayist, poet, and playwright

Conversation - 7:30 p.m., Main Theatre, Performing Arts Center, Uptown Campus

Joyce Carol Oates, prolific author of more than 160 books, is a perennial favorite to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Her recent works include the novel The Man Without a Shadow (2016), the memoir The Lost Landscape: A Writer's Coming of Age (2015), and the essay collection Soul at the White Heat: Inspiration, Obsession, and the Writing Life (2016).

October 15 (Saturday): Savion Glover, tap dancer, choreographer, and actor

Conversation - 1:00 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Savion Glover is a Tony award-winning choreographer and "the greatest tap dancer to ever lace up a pair of tap shoes" (Gregory Hines). He both starred in and choreographed the musical Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk, for which he received a Tony award for his choreography. He will premiere his latest work New Soundz at The Egg on October 15 at 8 p.m. (For information contact The Egg Box Office at 518-473-1845)

September 27 (Tuesday): Joseph LeDoux, neuroscientist and author

Seminar - 4:15 p.m., Standish Room, Science Library, Uptown Campus

Reading - 8:00 p.m., Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center, Uptown Campus

Joseph LeDoux is a world-renowned expert on the neurobiology of anxiety and fear. His new book is Anxious: Using the Brain to Understand and Treat Fear and Anxiety (2015), an accessible, elegantly written guide to the history and science of his field. Nobel Prize winning neuroscientist Eric Kandel said, "This marvelous book is science at its best."

Cosponsored by the Science Library of the University at Albany Libraries

September 29 (Thursday): Stephen Burt, poet and literary critic

Seminar - 4:15 p.m., Standish Room, Science Library, Uptown Campus

Reading - 8:00 p.m., Huxley Theatre, NYS Museum, Cultural Education Center, Albany

Stephen Burt is "one of the most influential poetry critics of his generation" (The New York Times Magazine). His latest book is The Poem is You: 60 Contemporary American Poems and How to Read Them (Sept 2016), "a guide to the diverse magnificences of American poetry today."

Cosponsored by Friends of the NYS Library

The New Americans: Recent Immigrant Experiences in Fiction, Nonfiction, and Film

This series examines the experiences of recent immigrant groups, the challenges they face, as well as their contributions and achievements. (October 6, 27, 28, November 4)

Funding support for the series is provided by University Auxiliary Services, and UAlbany's College of Arts & Sciences, and School of Public Health

October 6 (Thursday): Imbolo Mbue, novelist, and Susan Golomb, literary agent

Seminar - 4:15 p.m., Assembly Hall, Campus Center, Uptown Campus

Reading - 8:00 p.m., Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center, Uptown Campus

Imbolo Mbue, Cameroonian-American, is the author of the first novel Behold the Dreamers (2016), a riveting story about a young Cameroonian couple making a new life in New York just as the Great Recession of the 2000s upends the economy. In advance praise, bestselling author Jacqueline Woodson called it, "startlingly beautiful, thoughtful, and both timely and timeless."

Susan Golomb, Mbue's literary agent, is known for discovering and representing some of the most successful literary authors working today, including Jonathan Franzen and William T. Vollman.

October 27 (Thursday): SPARE PARTS

Film screening - 7:00 p.m., Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center, Uptown Campus

Directed by Sean McNamara (United States, 2015, 114 minutes, color)

Starring George Lopez, Jamie Lee Curtis, Carlos PenaVega, José JuliánSPARE PARTS is a feature film based on the true story of four undocumented immigrant high schoolstudents who enter a national robotics competition and take on teams from some of the country's most prestigious universities.

October 28 (Friday): Anne Fadiman, journalist and nonfiction author

Interview/Discussion - 7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Anne Fadiman is the author of the bestselling nonfiction book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (1997). Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, the book explores the clash between Western medicine and the holistic healing traditions of a Hmong refugee family from Laos. The Washington Post Book World called it, "Superb, informal cultural anthropology-eye-opening, readable, utterly engaging."

Cosponsored by UAlbany's School of Public Health

November 4 (Friday): UNDERWATER DREAMS

Film screening and commentary by director Mary Mazzio, and Lorenzo Santillan - 7:00 p.m. [Note early start time], Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Written and directed by Mary Mazzio (United States, 2014, 86 minutes, color)

This documentary film recounts the same story as the feature film SPARE PARTS (see October 27 listing). It is a David and Goliath story about a group of high school students, sons of undocumented Mexican immigrants, who enter a sophisticated underwater robotics competition and take on engineering students from MIT.

Mary Mazzio is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. Her films include CONTRARIAN (2013), THE APPLE PUSHER (2011), LEMONADE STORIES (2004), APPLE PIE (2002), and A HERO FOR DAISY (1999).

Lorenzo Santillan was part of the team of high school students who participated in the robotics competition that is the subject of the film UNDERWATER DREAMS.

Cosponsored by UAlbany's College of Arts & Sciences

October 18 (Tuesday): American Shakespeare Center performance of Romeo and Juliet

Performance - 7:30 p.m., Main Theatre, Performing Arts Center, Uptown Campus

Live music beginning at 7:00 p.m. Advance tickets: $15 general public/$10 students, seniors & UAlbany faculty-staff. Day of Show Tickets: $20 general public/$15 students, seniors & UAlbany faculty-staff.

For tickets email: tickets@albany.edu or call the PAC Box Office at: (518) 442-3997

With ravishing language Shakespeare celebrated love's triumphs and its trivialities in perhaps his most popular tragedy. Presented in classic Shakespearian style, the production features dance and thumb-biting swordplay as well as sonnets, bawdy wit, and soul-searching speeches.

Presented by the Performing Arts Center in conjunction with the Writers Institute. Support provided by the Department of English and University Auxiliary Services

November 1 (Tuesday): Howard Frank Mosher, novelist

Seminar - 4:15 p.m., Assembly Hall, Campus Center, Uptown Campus

Reading - 8:00 p.m., Huxley Theatre, NYS Museum, Cultural Education Center, Albany

Howard Frank Mosher is the author of ten acclaimed novels set in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. His most recent novel is God's Kingdom (2015), of which Stephen King said "This is American fiction at its very best, a rip-roaring story full of hilarity and heartbreak...honest and emotionally resonant. Don't miss it."

Cosponsored by Friends of the NYS Library

November 10 (Thursday): Jeff Goodell, journalist and nonfiction writer, and Jennifer Haigh, fiction writer

Reading/Discussion - 7:00 p.m., Art Museum, Fine Arts Building, Uptown Campus

Jeff Goodell is a contributing editor for Rolling Stone and a frequent contributor to the New York Times Magazine. His new book is How to Cool the Planet: Geoengineering and the Audacious Quest to Fix Earth's Climate (paperback, 2016).

Jennifer Haigh is the author of four bestselling novels including Mrs. Kimble (2003), which received the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for distinguished first book of fiction. In her new novel Heat and Light (2016), Haigh explores the allure of fracking for the residents of a ravaged coal town.

Sponsored in conjunction with the UAlbany Art Museum's exhibition Future Perfect: Picturing the Anthropocene (on display through December 10, 2016)

November 15 (Tuesday): Charles Baxter and James Lasdun, fiction writers

Seminar - 4:15 p.m., Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center, Uptown Campus

Reading - 8:00 p.m., Assembly Hall, Campus Center, Uptown Campus

Charles Baxter is widely celebrated as a master of the short story form. His newest collection, There's Something I Want You to Do (2015), was a finalist for the 2016 Story Prize. Julie Orringer said. "To read these stories-hilarious, tragic, surprising, and indelibly human-is to receive revelation at the hands of a master."

James Lasdun, fiction and nonfiction writer, poet, and screenwriter, is the author of Bluestone: New and Selected Poems (2015), the story collection It's Beginning to Hurt (2009), and the novel The Horned Man (2002), a New York Times Notable Book. His most recent book is the psychological thriller The Fall Guy (Oct 2016), which novelist Joseph O'Neill called "...a sinister and searching novel...what a delight."

November 29 (Tuesday): Garth Risk Hallberg, novelist

Seminar - 4:15 p.m., Assembly Hall, Campus Center, Uptown Campus

Reading - 8:00 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Garth Risk Hallberg is the author of the national bestseller City on Fire (2015), his sweeping debut novel about New York City in the 1970s where the lives of the wealthy, punks, artists, cops, and runaway teens collide. The novel was named a "Best Book of the Year" by the New York Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, and The Atlantic.

CLASSIC FILM SERIES

September 16 (Friday): CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT

Film screening - 7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Directed by Orson Welles (France/Spain, 1965, 115 minutes, b/w)

Starring Orson Welles, Jeanne Moreau, Margaret Rutherford, John Gielgud

CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT is comprised of material from five Shakespeare plays to tell the story of the Bard's recurring character Sir John Falstaff. With the improved picture quality and sound of this newly restored digital version critics are hailing CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT as one of Welles's greatest masterpieces.

September 23 (Friday): L'INHUMAINE (THE INHUMAN WOMAN)

Film screening - 7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Directed by Marcel L'Herbier (France, 1924, 135 minutes, b/w, silent, with live piano accompaniment by Mike Schiffer)

Starring Jaque Catelain, Georgette Leblanc, Fred Kellerman, Léonid Walter de Malte

The life of a beautiful opera singer changes when a young admirer who she rejected kills himself. This visually stunning art deco science fiction drama was recently restored with the original tints as envisioned by director L'Herbier.

September 30 (Friday): ZOOT SUIT RIOTS

Film screening and discussion with writer and director Joseph Tovares - 7:00 p.m. [Note early start time], Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Directed and written by Joseph Tovares (United States, 2002, 60 minutes, b/w and color)

ZOOT SUIT RIOTS, an episode in PBS's American Experience series, explores the complicated racial tensions that led to the explosion of race riots between whites and Mexican Americans in Los Angeles during the summer of 1943.

Joseph Tovares, Emmy-winning filmmaker and Series Editor for American Experience, is Chief Content Officer for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Sponsored in conjunction with UAlbany's School of Criminal Justice's Justice & Multiculturalism in the 21st Century: Crime, Justice, and Public Memory Film Series

October 7 (Friday): BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD

Film screening - 7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Directed by Sidney Lumet (United States, 2007, 117 minutes, color)

Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, Marisa Tomei

In this "superb crime drama" (Roger Ebert), a robbery planned by two brothers of their parents' jewelry store spins out of control to disastrous results. The screenplay was written by Kelly Masterson, who will visit the Writers Institute on Friday October 21 with his film SNOWPIERCER. (see listing)

October 14 (Friday): WHO KILLED VINCENT CHIN?

Film screening with commentary by director Christine Choy - 7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Directed by Christine Choy (United States, 1987, 87 minutes, color)

A Chinese automotive engineer is mistaken as Japanese and murdered by two autoworkers who blame him for the competition from the Japanese auto industry. The film was nominated for a Best Documentary Oscar.

Christine Choy is a director and producer whose films include THE SHOT HEARD 'ROUNG THE WORLD (1997), and RODNEY KING: KOREATOWN REACTS (2016).

Sponsored in conjunction with UAlbany's School of Criminal Justice's Justice & Multiculturalism in the 21st Century: Crime, Justice, and Public Memory Film Series

October 21 (Friday): SNOWPIERCER

Film screening with commentary by screenwriter Kelly Masterson - 7:00 p.m. [Note early start time], Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Directed by Joon-ho Bong (South Korea/Czech Republic/United States/France, 2013, 126 minutes, color & b/w)

Starring Chris Evans, Ed Harris, John Hurt, Song Kang-ho, Tilda Swinton

Based on the French graphic novel, Le Transperceneige, SNOWPIERCER is widely hailed as a classic of the new climate fiction genre ("cli-fi"). Survivors of a future Ice Age live out their lives on a train as it travels in a continuous loop around the globe.

Kelly Masterson, screenwriter of SNOWPIERCER, also wrote the screenplay for BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD (2007), the acclaimed final film of director Sidney Lumet, which won the AFI award for Movie of the Year.

Sponsored in conjunction with the UAlbany Art Museum's exhibition Future Perfect: Picturing the Anthropocene (on display through December 10, 2016)

October 27 (Thursday): SPARE PARTS (see Visiting Writer listing The New Americans Series)

November 4 (Friday): UNDERWATER DREAMS (see Visiting Writer listing The New Americans Series)

November 11 (Friday): SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE

Film screening - 7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Directed by George Roy Hill (United States, 1972, 104 minutes, color)

Starring Michael Sacks, Ron Leibman, Eugene Roche

Based on Kurt Vonnegut's powerful antiwar novel, the film tells the story of Billy Pilgrim who becomes "stuck in time" after surviving the horrific 1945 firebombing of Dresden, moving from his past as an American POW, to the future as an alien abductee, and to the present as a middle-aged optometrist in Ilium, NY.

November 18 (Friday): THE KID

Film screening - 7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Directed by Charles Chaplin (United States, 1921, 68 minutes, b/w, silent with new musical score composed by

Chaplin in 1971)

Starring Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Jackie Coogan

Charlie the Tramp finds a new-born baby boy, who has been abandoned by his unmarried, destitute mother, and raises him as his own. Five years later the mother, now a wealthy opera star, sets out to find her son.

December 2 (Friday): DESK SET

Film screening - 7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Directed by Walter Lang (United States, 1957, 103 minutes, color)

Starring Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Gig Young

An efficiency expert is hired to prepare a TV research department for a computer system. He meets resistance from the head of the department in this fast and fun romantic comedy.

December 9 (Friday): IRONWEED 30th Anniversary Screening

Film screening - 7:00 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Directed by Hector Babenco (United States, 1987, 143 minutes, color)

Starring Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Carroll Baker, Michael O'Keefe

Adapted for the screen by William Kennedy from his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and filmed at several Albany locations, IRONWEED tells the tale of Francis Phelan, a drifter who returns to his home city of Albany to make peace with a past that haunts him.

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

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Posted Monday August 29, 2016 at 10:01 am by New York State Writers Institute