Writers Institute Hosts Poets Marie Howe and Campbell McGrath and "Wicked" Author Gregory Maguire

ALBANY, NY (02/27/2008)(readMedia)-- Prize-Winning American Poets Marie Howe and Campbell McGrath to Read March 11, 2008

Marie Howe, winner of the National Poetry Series Prize for “The Good Thief,” and Campbell McGrath, winner of a MacArthur “genius grant,” will read from and discuss their work on Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. in the Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center, on the University at Albany’s uptown campus. Earlier that day at 4:15 p.m., the authors will present an informal seminar in the Standish Room, 3rd Floor, Science Library, on the uptown campus. The events are sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute, and are free and open to the public.

Campbell McGrath is admired for accessible verse that explores the cultural and natural landscapes of the United States. In recognizing his affinity for the American wilderness, “Outside” magazine has called him, “An acrobatic, exuberant poet, part Walt Whitman, part Tom Waits.... a writer who could help save poetry from academia and get the rest of us reading it again.” “Library Journal” has said, “McGrath sings American in a voice at once electric and eclectic, plumbing the best and worst of our society.”

McGrath’s latest poetry collection is “Seven Notebooks” (2008), a season-by-season accounting of a year in the life of its narrator, from spring in Chicago to summer at the Jersey shore to winter in Miami Beach. “Publishers Weekly” calls it, “... a big, ambitious, optimistic volume.” Previous collections include “Florida Poems” (2002), “Road Atlas” (1999), “Spring Comes to Chicago” (1996), and “American Noise” (1993). He is a three-time winner of the Academy of American Poets Prize, and a 1999 recipient of a MacArthur “genius grant.”

Marie Howe writes “a poetry of intimacy, witness, honesty, and relation” (“The Boston Globe”). Her newest collection is “The Kingdom of Ordinary Time” (2008), an exploration of ordinary, yet nevertheless miraculous, day-to-day moments — hurrying through errands, attending a dying mother, helping a child on the playground.

Howe was selected by Stanley Kunitz for the Lavan Younger Poets Prize in 1988. Kunitz said, “Marie Howe’s poetry is luminous, intense, and eloquent, rooted in an abundant inner life. Her long, deep-breathing lines address the mysteries of flesh and spirit, in terms accessible only to a woman who is very much of our time and yet still in touch with the sacred.” Her first book of poems, “The Good Thief” (1989), was chosen by Margaret Atwood to be the winner of the National Poetry Series. Atwood said, “Marie Howe’s poetry doesn’t fool around . . . these poems are intensely felt, sparely expressed, and difficult to forget....” Howe is also the author of “What the Living Do: Poems” (1997), and co-editor of “In the Company of My Solitude: American Writing from the AIDS Pandemic” (1994).

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

Gregory Maguire, Albany-born author of “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” to Discuss New Book on a Rogue Tooth Fairy, March 13, 2008

Gregory Maguire, the much acclaimed Albany-born author, revisionist fairy tale writer, and UAlbany graduate, who is best-known for “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” (1995), will discuss his newest children’s novel on Thursday, March 13, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. [NOTE EARLY START TIME] in the Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center, on the University at Albany’s uptown campus. The author will offer a book signing at the University Art Museum immediately following the reading. The events, which are free and open to the public, are sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute and the University Art Museum.

Gregory Maguire’s best-known work, “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” (1995), was a “New York Times” bestseller, with more than 3 million copies sold.

Maguire’s newest book is “What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy” (2007), a children’s novel about an orphaned male fairy, hatched during a violent storm in a discarded tuna can, who embarks on a quest of self-discovery. The “Washington Post” praised the author’s “dancing, silken prose,” and “Kirkus Reviews” called it “a winner for Maguire’s fans of all ages.” The “New York Times” reviewer said that Maguire in the new novel, “does for the dark and stormy night what he did for witches in ‘Wicked’... he brings a literary commonplace to booming, three-dimensional life.”

Writing in the “New Yorker,” John Updike called “Wicked” (1995), “an amazing novel.” “Kirkus Reviews” said, “Save a place on the shelf between ‘Alice’ and ‘The Hobbit’—that spot is well deserved.” The “Los Angeles Times” called it “a staggering feat of wordcraft...,” and said, “Maguire’s larger triumph here is twofold: First, in Elphaba, he has created one of the great heroines in fantasy literature: a fiery, passionate, unforgettable and ultimately tragic figure. Second, ‘Wicked’ is the best fantasy novel of ideas I’ve read since Mervyn Peake’s ‘Gormenghast’ or Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune.’”

Adapted as a Broadway musical in 2003, “Wicked” received 10 Tony nominations, including Best Musical, and received Tony awards for Best Actress, Best Scenic Design, and Best Costume Design. It also received 6 Drama Desk Awards.

Maguire’s other fairy tale “revisions” include “Son of a Witch” (2005), an Oz sequel; “Mirror, Mirror” (2003), based on Snow White; and “Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister” (1999), a Cinderella tale. The “Boston Globe” reviewer said, “‘Son of a Witch’ is vintage Maguire, thoroughly entertaining even at its darkest. Oz is as complex and satisfying a fantastic world as ever, wonderfully described.”

Maguire is working on a third novel in the “Wicked” cycle in which the Cowardly Lion of Oz will play a prominent role.

Maguire received his B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany. A scholar of children’s literature, Maguire served as professor and co-director at the Simmons College Center for the Study of Children’s Literature from 1979 to 1985. He currently serves as codirector of the not-for-profit arts foundation, Children’s Literature New England, Inc

A book signing will be held at the University Art Museum following the reading.

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

“Clando” to be Screened on March 14, 2008

“Clando” (Cameroon, 1996, 90 minutes, color, 35 mm, in French with English subtitles, directed by Jean-Marie Téno), will be shown on Friday, March 14, 2008, 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.

In this acclaimed feature film an African computer programmer gets caught up in a web of corruption and political intrigue. Jean-Marie Téno, award-winning, socially-conscious filmmaker, explores the political kleptocracy and bitter colonial legacy of his native country of Cameroon, the only African country to be colonized by three European powers: Germany, France, and Britain. The prestigious Toronto Film Festival bills the Paris-based Téno as “one of the best documentarians alive” and “one of African cinema’s most exciting directors.” Téno’s work has frequently been censored in Cameroon and banned from state-owned television.

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

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Posted Wednesday February 27, 2008 at 09:11 pm by New York State Writers Institute