nyswi

Lucy Sante is a Belgian-born nonfiction writer, art critic and cultural commentator of astonishingly wide interests, including the Beastie Boys, early photography, and the history of NYC reservoirs. Her newest book is "Nineteen Reservoirs: On Their Creation and the Promise of Water for New York City." This conversation with Lucy Sante was recorded as part of The Creative Life Series at UAlbany on October 18, 2022.

The New York State Writer's Institute presents and event with Kwame Alexander, a household name among readers of children’s and YA literature, at 7 p.m. Thursday October 6 at Page Hall on the UAlbany Downtown campus.

The New York State Writers Institute and UAlbany will be hosting the fifth annual Albany Book Festival at the college’s Uptown Campus, in the campus center on Saturday, September 17. The event will host more than 100 authors and poets, including Pulitzer-Prize-winning “Doonesbury” cartoonist Garry Trudeau and National Book Award winner Susan Choi, among others.

There will be a celebration on Wednesday August 24th for the launch of Little Liberty Library, a free library box in Caffe Lena's courtyard in Saratoga Springs dedicated to frequently banned books. Admission is a banned book or a donation to keep the library stocked.For more than 60 years, Caffe Lena has not only cared for free speech but presented a safe haven for it on stage—whether in the form of music, theater or the spoken word.The current national uptick in efforts to ban controversial books from libraries is a way to suppress conversation; to tame our ability to think for ourselves. This celebration will open and close with music by Dan Berggren. Twelve authors will each read for 3-5 minutes from titles that have been banned or challengedJoining us: Free Banned Books! Organizer Pat Nugent, Executive Director of Caffe Lena Sarah Craig, and Director of the New York State Writers Institute Paul Grondahl.

Designer Debbie Millman and author Roxane Gay visited the University at Albany for a conversation with WAMC’s Joe Donahue as part of The Creative Life: A Conversation Series on Tuesday, November 2, 2021 at the UAlbany Performing Arts Center on the University at Albany’s Uptown Campus.

Sonia Manzano, the actor and author who played Maria for nearly five decades on "Sesame Street" will be the guest in this spring’s edition of The Creative Life: A Conversation Series at UAlbany, appearing at the Performing Arts Center at 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 30. She will be in conversation with WAMC's Joe Donahue. That evening, also at UAlbany, Manzano will perform as part of a Selected Shorts live event which will feature Manzano along with Patricia Kalember, and Bhavesh Patel.

Selected Shorts is getting a new host. The public radio and podcast series, created by Symphony Space, has tapped author Meg Wolitzer to become the first permanent host of the show since the death of Symphony Space founder Isaiah Sheffer in 2012. After a decade of writers and artists serving as the host of events in the series, those duties will fall to Wolitzer, whose own stories have been performed in the series. She has written bestsellers including “The Wife,” “The Interestings” and “The Female Persuasion.”Selected Shorts will be at UAlbany on April 30 featuring actors Sonia Manzano, Patricia Kalember, and Bhavesh Patel. The event is presented in collaboration with the UAlbany Performing Arts Center with support from the University at Albany Foundation, University Auxiliary Services, and the Office of Intercultural Student Engagement.Selected Shorts will be at 7:30 p.m. Prior to that, at 4 p.m. WAMC's Joe Donahue will be in conversation with Sonia Manzano (Sesame Street) for the Creative Life Conversation Series.

Ruth Reichl is a James Beard Award-winning food writer and former New York Times food critic and was Joe Donahue's guest as part of The Creative Life: A Conversation Series at UAlbany on October 5, 2021. The Creative Life conversation series is presented in partnership with the University Art Museum, NYS Writers Institute and WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The new historical documentary, “Searching for Timbuctoo,” will have its Albany premiere on November 12th at 7:00p.m. on the Downtown Campus of the University at Albany. The screening is hosted by the New York State Writers Institute, is free and open to the public.

In 2012, Edward Schwarzschild went to work for the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) at Albany International Airport, working in the early…