Arts & Culture

    For this Woodstock Writer's Festival panel, four of the best writers for late night television come to Woodstock to share the mirth. Panelists include the legendary Bill Scheft (The Late Show with David Letterman), Jess Dweck (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon), and Meredith Scardino (The Colbert Report). Moderated by J.R. Havlan, (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart).

The panel will be a live taping of J.R.'s podcast, Writer's Bloc - he joins us for a preview.

    The Woodstock Writers Festival is a collection of writers and their readers who meet for the weekend in Woodstock, NY from April 18-21.

It is the 4th annual event and there are plenty of events and panels. There will be panels on spirituality, comedy writing, Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll and discussions on poetry, the short story, and a look at the writing of memoir.

Among the writers who will be on hand are Cheryl Strayed, Lydia Davis, Philippe Petit, James Lasdun, Abigail Thomas, Ann Hood, Christa Parravani and many more.

To tell us more we welcome Festival Organizer Martha Frankel and festival headliner, Philippe Petit, whose new book is Why Knot?: How to Tie More Than Sixty Ingenious, Useful, Beautiful, Lifesaving, and Secure Knots!

  The African American Cultural Center of the Capital Region is committed to educating, enriching, and empowering residents of the Capital Region through a variety of programs that raise the collective consciousness of all ethnicities to the rich and vibrant history, contribution, and culture of African Americans.

This Thursday, April 18th, The African American Cultural Center of the Capital Region will hold a Gala fundraiser in the Swyer Theater at The Egg in Albany, New York.

The evening will include performances of scenes from A Soldier's Play, by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, Charles H. Fuller, a conversation with -and award presentation to- Fuller – and more.

    Tonight the National Geographic Channel will premiere their 6-part miniseries The 80s: The Decade that Made Us.

The series is based, in part, on the book Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live in Now--Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Everything by David Sirota.

WAMC's Sarah LaDuke spoke with Sirota in advance of tonight's premiere.