NYS Writers Institute announces Spring 2017 Visiting Writers and Classic Film Series schedules

ALBANY, NY (01/09/2017)(readMedia)-- The New York State Writers Institute at the University at Albany announces its Spring 2017 schedule of visiting writer appearances and film series screenings. Events take place on the University at Albany uptown and downtown campuses and are free and open to the public (unless otherwise noted).

A pioneer of experimental fiction, a convicted murderer, a jazz violinist and internationally renowned painter, an award-winning naturalist, an Iraq war interrogator, an American history scholar, and an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court are just of few of the headliners who will visit the Writers Institute in an exciting Spring 2017 season of bestselling and prize-winning authors, artists, activists, and newsmakers.

The Visiting Writers Series will open on Tuesday, January 31 with Robert Coover, a pioneer of experimental and electronic fiction, whose new novel Huck Out West continues the story of Mark Twain's classic character Huckleberry Finn. Shaka Senghor, who was incarcerated for 19 years for murder, presents the UAlbany Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration keynote lecture "Your Worst Deeds Do Not Define You," based on his honest and inspirational memoir Writing My Wrongs (2016), on Wednesday, February 1.

"The Creative Life Series," presented by the Writers Institute, UAlbany Art Museum, and Performing Arts Center in partnership with WAMC, continues with conversations featuring jazz violinist Regina Carter on Saturday, February 11, and renowned American painter David Salle and author of the new book How to See on Thursday, March 23. The two will discuss their careers and artistic inspirations in on-stage interviews with WAMC's Joe Donahue.

Bestselling author Diane Ackerman, who last visited the Writers Institute in 1992 with her book The Moon by Whale Light, returns to discuss her novel The Zookeeper's Wife (2007), which will be released as a film in late March.

On April 20 Army veteran Eric Fair will discuss his book Consequence (2016), a candid and chilling account of his experiences working in Iraq as an interrogator at Abu Ghraib prison.

Bestselling author and noted historian Douglas Brinkley highlights another area of U.S. history in his latest New York Times bestseller, Rightful Heritage (2016), in which he chronicles Franklin Delano Roosevelt's under-sung legacy as a crusader for the conservation of America's public lands.

On Tuesday, April 4, the UAlbany Speakers Series hosts a visit by Sonia Sotomayor, Assistant Justice of the Supreme Court and author of the memoir My Beloved World (2012). (For additional information on Sotomayor's visit, go to www.albany.edu.)

Additional guests in the Spring 2017 Visiting Writers Series include:

Dael Orlandersmith, award winning playwright who will deliver the 21st Annual Burian Lecture, funded by the Jarka and Grayce Burian Endowment; local writer Eugene Mirabelli, author of the novel Renato the Painter (2012), and the new sequel, Renato After Alba (2016), who will appear with one of his former students, Jo Page, Times Union columnist and Lutheran minister, and author of the new memoir Preaching in My Yes Dress: Confessions of a Reluctant Pastor (2016); Helen Czerski, physicist and BBC television personality, and author of the new book Storm in a Teacup: The Physics of Everyday Life (2017); Nancy Jo Sales, journalist, who explores the impact of social media on teenage girls in her new book American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers (2016); Rigoberto González, nonfiction writer and poet whose work explores the hardships and prejudices endured by gay Latinos and immigrants; Gregory Pardlo, who won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his collection Digest (2014); Irish novelist and journalist Ruth Gilligan, author of the new novel Nice Folds Make a Paper Swan (2017), based on the unknown history of the Jewish community in Ireland; and Portuguese poet Rosa Alice Branco, with her translator Alexis Levitin, who will present her new award-winning collection Cattle of the Lord (2016).

The Spring 2017 Classic Film Series boasts visits by several award-winning documentary filmmakers as well as screenings associated with featured guests of the Visiting Writers Series. The film series begins with a February 10 screening of THE BLING RING, directed by Sofia Coppola and based on an article and subsequent book of the same name written by visiting writer guest Nancy Jo Sales. On February 24 award-winning documentary filmmakers Peter Miller and Amy Linton will provide commentary following the screening of SACCO AND VANZETTI (2006), which tells the story of the trial of two immigrants charged with robbery and murder. On April 7 Stanley Nelson, Emmy-award winning director and recipient of a National Humanities Medal in 2014, along with screenwriter and producer Marcia Smith will offer commentary following the screening of their film THE BLACK PANTHERS: VANGUARD OF THE REVOLUTION (2015), a documentary that explores the history of the Black Panthers, its formation and ultimate downfall. The 1995 film SEARCH AND DESTROY, directed by painter David Salle, who will appear at the Institute as part of "The Creative Life Series," will be screened on March 10. The final event of the Spring 2017 season on May 5 will feature David Ebershoff, author the The Danish Girl, who will offer commentary following the screening of the film that is based on his internationally bestselling and award-winning novel.

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

VISITING WRITER SERIES

January 31 (Tuesday): Robert Coover, award-winning fiction writer

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

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

Robert Coover, pioneer of experimental and electronic fiction, is celebrated for work that reinvents the art of storytelling. His new novel, Huck Out West (2017), picks up where Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn leaves off – on the eve of the Civil War. In a starred review Booklist described the book as "a near-masterpiece...a surprisingly tender, touching paean to the power of storytelling."

Cosponsored by UAlbany's English Department to inaugurate its new Creative Writing minor

2017 Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Keynote Speaker

February 1 (Wednesday): Shaka Senghor, author and prison reform activist

Lecture: "Your Worst Deeds Do Not Define You" - 7:00 p.m., Campus Center Ballroom, Uptown Campus

Pre-event Reception: 5:30 – 6:45 p.m., Patroon Room, Campus Center, Uptown Campus

Shaka Senghor is the author of the memoir Writing My Wrongs (2016), a New York Times bestseller that candidly recounts his life growing up during the height of the 1980s crack epidemic, his 19-year incarceration for murder at the age of 19, and the tools he used to confront his past and construct his future.

Sponsored by UAlbany's Division of Student Affairs and Office of Diversity and Inclusion

February 9 (Thursday): Helen Czerski, physicist, oceanographer, and broadcaster

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

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

Helen Czerski, physicist and BBC television personality, is the author of the new book Storm in a Teacup: The Physics of Everyday Life (2017), which explores the science of popcorn, coffee stains, and other ordinary phenomena to explain big principles about the world in which we live.

Cosponsored by the Science Library of the University at Albany Libraries, and Women in Science and Health

The Creative Life Series – February 11 and March 23

Created and produced by the Writers Institute, University Art Museum, and UAlbany Performing Arts Center in collaboration with WAMC Radio, this new series features leading figures from a variety of artistic disciplines in conversation about their creative inspiration, their craft, and their careers.

February 11 (Saturday): Regina Carter, jazz violinist

Conversation - 4:30 p.m., Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center, Uptown Campus

Regina Carter is a violinist of unbridled artistry and imagination who has brought her exquisite improvisational skills to a broad diversity of styles ranging from classical and soul to African and traditional music of the South. Recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, she will discuss her career and musical inspiration with WAMC's "Roundtable" host Joe Donahue.

Carter will perform "Simply Ella," marking the 100th birthday of Ella Fitzgerald, at The Egg on February 11 at 8 p.m. For information contact The Egg Box Office at 518-473-1845.

March 23 (Thursday): David Salle, internationally renowned painter

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

David Salle is a major American painter whose work has helped define the Postmodernist aesthetic. WAMC's "Roundtable" host Joe Donahue will lead a conversation with Salle on his new book, How to See: Looking, Talking, and Thinking About Art (2016). Author Salmon Rushdie described the book as "a brilliant series of reflections on how artists think when they make their work."

Reception and book signing immediately following in the University Art Museum, Fine Arts Building

February 16 (Thursday): Nancy Jo Sales, journalist and nonfiction writer

Reading/discussion - 8:00 p.m., Campus Center Room 375, Uptown Campus

Nancy Jo Sales is the author of the new book American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers (2016), an investigation into the enormous impact of social media on today's youth. She is also the author of The Bling Ring (2013), which was adapted for film by Sofia Coppola (see February 10 film screening listing).

Sponsored in association with UAlbany's Sexuality Month, a program of the Middle Earth Peer Assistance Program of Counseling and Psychological Services

March 7 (Tuesday): Diane Ackerman, bestselling author, poet, and naturalist

Seminar - 4:15 p.m., University Hall Room 110, Collins Circle, Uptown Campus

Reading - 8:00 p.m., Clark Auditorium, NYS Museum, Cultural Education Center, Downtown Albany

Diane Ackerman, renowned for her explorations of the natural world in nonfiction and poetry, received the National Outdoor Book Award and PEN's Henry Thoreau Prize for her 2015 book The Human Age. Her other works include A Natural History of the Senses (1990), and The Zookeeper's Wife (2007), the story of a Warsaw zookeeper's family that saved 300 Jews during the Holocaust, which will be released as a film starring Jessica Chastain on March 31st. Cosponsored by Friends of the New York State Library

The 21st Annual Burian Lecture: Funded by the Jarka and Grayce Burian Endowment

March 20 (Monday): Dael Orlandersmith, award-winning playwright

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

The Burian Lecture - 8:00 p.m., Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center, Uptown Campus

Dael Orlandersmith is an actress, poet, and playwright whose work explores racial tensions, family relationships, and the Harlem neighborhood in which she grew up. Her one-woman play Beauty's Daughter (1995) received an Obie, and Yellowman (2002) was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Cosponsored by the Jarka and Grayce Burian Endowment and UAlbany's Theatre Program

March 28 (Tuesday): Eugene Mirabelli, novelist, and Jo Page, memoirist and journalist

Reading - 4:15 p.m., University Hall Room 110, Collins Circle, Uptown Campus

Eugene Mirabelli, Professor Emeritus of English at UAlbany, received the Independent Publisher Book Award Gold Medal for his 2012 novel, Renato the Painter. His new book is the sequel, Renato After Alba (2016), an account of Renato's life as a widower at age 83.

Jo Page, essayist, columnist, and Lutheran minister, is the author of the new memoir, Preaching in My Yes Dress: Confessions of a Reluctant Pastor (2012). For 20 years the author of the "Reckonings" column for Metroland, Page now writes a column for the Albany Times Union.

March 31 (Friday): Rigoberto González, fiction and nonfiction writer, and poet

Reading - 6:00 p.m., Fossieck Room, Milne Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Rigoberto González, the U.S. born son of Mexican migrant workers is known for work that explores the hardships and prejudices endured by gay Latinos and immigrants. He earned the Lenore Marshall Prize for his poetry collection Unpeopled Eden (2013), and the American Book Award for his memoir Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa (2006).

Sponsored by the English Graduate Student Organization, Barzakh literary journal, and the Department of English

UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY SPEAKERS SERIES

April 4 (Tuesday): Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court

Conversation - 6:30 p.m., SEFCU Arena, Uptown Campus

Nominated to the Supreme Court by President Obama in 2009, Sonia Sotomayor became the first Latina Supreme Court Justice in U.S. history. Her memoir My Beloved World (2012), recounts her life's journey from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench.

Sponsored by the University at Albany Student Association, Division of Student Affairs, Alumni Association, and University Auxiliary Services in partnership with the Writers Institute.

To obtain free tickets, please see instructions to be posted closer to the event date on the Writers Institute website.

April 12 (Wednesday): Gregory Pardlo, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet

Reading and McKinney Writing Contest Awards - 8:00 p.m., Biotech Auditorium, Biotechnology and

Interdisciplinary Studies Building, Rensselaer (RPI), Troy

Gregory Pardlo received the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Digest (2014), his second collection. The Pulitzer committee described his work as "Clear-voiced poems that bring readers the news from 21st century America, rich with thought, ideas and histories public and private."

Sponsored by Rensselaer's 75th Annual McKinney Writing Contest and Reading and the Vollmer W. Fries Lecture. For directions see: http://www.rpi.edu/tour/index.html

April 13 (Thursday): Ruth Gilligan, Irish novelist and journalist

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

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

Ruth Gilligan is the author of Nine Folds Make a Paper Swan (2017), a novel based on the unknown history of the Jewish community in Ireland. Gilligan has published three previous novels in Ireland and is the youngest person ever to reach #1 on Ireland's bestseller list.

Cosponsored by Friends of the New York State Library

April 20 (Thursday): Eric Fair, Army veteran, Iraq war interrogator, and nonfiction writer

Seminar - 4:15 p.m., Campus Center Room 375, Uptown Campus

Reading - 8:00 p.m., Clark Auditorium, NYS Museum, Cultural Education Center, Downtown Albany

Eric Fair is the author of Consequence (2016), an account of his experiences working in Iraq as an interrogator for a private contractor at Abu Ghraib prison in 2004. Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times called the book "Important...candid and chilling...At once an agonized confession...and an indictment of the system...a profoundly unsettling book."

Sponsored in conjunction with Albany Pro Musica's performance of The Armed Man – A Mass for Peace by Karl Jenkins, on May 6, 2017, 7:30 p.m. at EMPAC. See http://www.albanypromusica.org/concerts/

Cosponsored by Friends of the New York State Library

April 21 (Friday): Rosa Alice Branco, Portuguese poet, with translator Alexis Levitin

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

Rosa Alice Branco is a notable Portuguese poet whose work has appeared in translation in more than 40 literary journals around the world. Her collection Cattle of the Lord, translated in 2016 by Alexis Levitin and presented in both Portuguese and English, won the prestigious Espiral Maior de Poesia Award in 2009.

Alexis Levitin has translated more than thirty works of writers from Portugal, Brazil, and Ecuador and his translations have appeared in well over 200 magazines, including Partisan Review, Kenyon Review, and Prairie Schooner. He is a Distinguished Professor at SUNY-Plattsburgh.

Cosponsored by the Portuguese Program of UAlbany's Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures

April 27 (Thursday): Douglas Brinkley, historian and author

Seminar - 4:15 p.m., Campus Center Room 375, Uptown Campus

Reading - 8:00 p.m., Clark Auditorium, NYS Museum, Cultural Education Center, Downtown Albany

Douglas Brinkley, bestselling author, eminent scholar of American history, and CNN's official Presidential Historian, has written numerous biographies of American presidents, politicians, and other newsmakers. With his latest New York Times Bestseller, Rightful Heritage (2016), Brinkley chronicles Franklin Delano Roosevelt's under-sung legacy as a crusader for the conservation of America's public lands.

Cosponsored by Friends of the New York State Library

May 5 (Friday): David Ebershoff, fiction writer and editor

Film screening of THE DANISH GIRL with commentary by David Ebershoff - 7:00 p.m. [note early start time], Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Directed by Tom Hooper (UK/US/Belgium/Denmark/Germany, 2015, 119 minutes, color)

Starring Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander

Based on David Ebershoff's novel, the film follows the lives of husband and wife Danish artists Einar Wegener/Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener as they struggle with Lili's groundbreaking gender transformation from a man to a woman. The film received four Oscar nominations, winning for Best Supporting Actress (Alicia Vikander).

David Ebershoff is the author of the novel The Danish Girl (2000), which was an international bestseller, a New York Times "Notable Book," and winner of the Lambda Award for Transgender Fiction. He is also the author of the story collection The Rose City (2001), and the novels Pasadena (2002), and The 19th Wife (2008), a #1 bestseller that was adapted for a television movie.

CLASSIC FILM SERIES

February 10 (Friday): THE BLING RING

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

Directed by Sofia Coppola (United States, 2013, 90 minutes, color & b/w)

Starring Katie Chang, Israel Broussard, Emma Watson, Claire Julian, Taissa Farmiga

Inspired by actual events, the film tells the story of a group of fame- and fashion-obsessed teenagers who use the Internet to track celebrities' whereabouts in order to rob their homes. Directed by Oscar-winning director Sofia Coppola, it is based on the Vanity Fair article "The Suspects Wore Louboutins" (which was later expanded into the book The Bling Ring) by Nancy Jo Sales, who will visit the Writers Institute on Thursday, February 16th (see Visiting Writers Series listing).

February 17 (Friday): WITHIN OUR GATES

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

Directed by Oscar Micheaux (United States, 1920, 79 minutes, b/w, silent)

Starring Evelyn Preer, Flo Clements, James D. Ruffin

This film is Oscar Micheaux's response to D. W. Griffith's 1915 racist film THE BIRTH OF A NATION, and the earliest surviving feature by an African American director. An educated black woman with a shocking past dedicates herself to helping a school for impoverished black youth.

February 24 (Friday): SACCO AND VANZETTI

Film screening with commentary by director Peter Miller and film editor Amy Linton - 7:00 p.m. [note early start time], Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Directed by Peter Miller (United States, 2006, 80 minutes, color)

This documentary, winner of the American Historical Association's best film award, tells the story of two immigrants charged with the 1920 robbery of a Massachusetts shoe factory and the murder of two of its employees.

Peter Miller is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose films include the theatrically-released A.K.A. DOC POMUS, JEWS AND BASEBALL, and SACCO AND VANZETTI.

Amy Linton has edited numerous award-winning films including Julie Dash's DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST, a Sundance winner that was selected for the Library of Congress' National Film Registry.

Cosponsored with UAlbany's School of Criminal Justice

March 3 (Friday): HIS GIRL FRIDAY

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

Directed by Howard Hawks (United States, 1940, 92 minutes, b/w)

Starring Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy

A newspaper editor uses every trick he can think of to stop his top reporter-and ex-wife-from leaving the paper to remarry.

March 10 (Friday): SEARCH AND DESTROY

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

Directed by David Salle (United States, 1995, 90 minutes, color)

Starring Griffin Dunne, Dennis Hopper, Jason Ferraro, Ethan Hawke, Illeana Douglas

A two-bit hustler with dreams of becoming a movie producer attempts to raise cash for his first project in this Hollywood satire. Painter David Salle makes his directorial debut in this Martin Scorsese production with an all-star cast. Note: David Salle will appear on March 23 as part of The Creative Life Series (see Visiting Writers Series listing)

March 24 (Friday): LACOMBE, LUCIEN

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

Directed by Louis Malle (France, 1974, 138 minutes, color, in French with English subtitles)

Starring Pierre Blaise, Aurore Clément, Holger Löwenadler

A young man in Nazi-occupied France attempts to join the French Resistance. Turned down because of his age he becomes a member of the Gestapo, but also falls in love with the daughter of a Jewish tailor.

April 7 (Friday): THE BLACK PANTHERS: VANGUARD OF THE REVOLUTION

Film screening with commentary by director Stanley Nelson and producer Marcia Smith - 7:00 p.m. [note early start time], Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Directed by Stanley Nelson (United States, 2015, 115 minutes, color and b/w)

This documentary explores the remarkable history of the Black Panther Party, its formation and ultimate downfall, and its cultural and political significance to the broader American culture. The film premiered at Sundance, aired on PBS, and received awards for Best Documentary from the Image Awards and the National Board of Review.

Stanley Nelson is an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker and recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama in 2014.

Marcia Smith, president of Firelight Media, has written numerous films for PBS and has garnered every major production award in television.

Cosponsored with UAlbany's School of Criminal Justice

April 21 (Friday): TABU

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

Directed by Miguel Gomes (Portugal, 2012, 118 minutes, b/w, in Portuguese with English subtitles)

Starring Teresa Madruga, Isabel Muñoz Cardoso, Laura Soveral

The New Yorker reviewer called TABU "...one of the most original and inventive-as well as trenchantly political and painfully romantic-movies of recent years." A love story, and an exploration of Portugal's colonial past, the film received numerous awards including the FIPRESCI Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival.

April 28 (Friday): MOTHER

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

Directed by Bong Joon-ho (South Korea, 2009, 128 minutes, color, in Korean with English subtitles)

Starring Hye-ja Kim, Bin Won, Ku Jin

A mother attempts to solve the brutal murder of a young girl for which her mentally challenged son has been accused. This labyrinthine and deceptive film received critical praise for South Korean director Bong Joon-ho and won a number of international film awards.

May 5 (Friday): THE DANISH GIRL

Film screening with commentary by David Ebershoff - 7:00 p.m. [note early start time],

Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus (see Visiting Writers Series listing)

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 January 09, 2017 at 10:00 am by New York State Writers Institute