The NYS Writers Institute brings something for everyone in new season

A Variety of Stories

ALBANY — The healing power of animals, the arid West, a centenary birthday tribute to a film star, and a marathon public reading of a classic novel are just a few of the highlights of the upcoming New York State Writers Institute season. The NYS Writers Institute has arranged for more than two dozen programs, including writers, film screenings, and conversational presentations.

“We’re always trying to mix it up,” said Paul Grondahl, Opalka Endowed Director of the NYS Writers Institute. “We don’t just do serious novels, big historical books, or biographies. We have a lot of range. We like the variety.”

The season begins on Thursday, Aug. 29, with the acclaimed novelist Hannah Lillith Assadi. The Palestinian-Jewish writer draws on her multicultural heritage and life experiences of navigating oppression and identity to inform her poetic stories, which include

“Sonora” and “The Stars Are Not Yet Bells.”

The New Yorker and NPR both selected “The Stars Are Not Yet Bells” as a book of the year in 2022. “She sets this atmosphere where you really feel like you’re with these characters,” said Grondahl. “There’s a lot of critical acclaim behind it, and we also feel it’s a beautiful story.”

Newly released works will be featured throughout the season. On Tuesday, Sept. 10, New York Times best-selling novelist Chris Bohjalian will present his newest novel, The Princess of Las Vegas.

Monday, Sept. 16 will highlight the theme “The Joy and Healing Power of Dogs.” Actress, advocate, and author of Five-Dog Epiphany: How a Quintet of Badass Bichons Retrieved Our Joy, Marianne Leone, will be joined by Oscar-winning actor Chris Cooper to discuss the resonant power of animals and hope.

One of the headlining events of September is the Albany Book Festival, beginning on Saturday, Sept. 21.

“It’ll be our seventh annual, which is amazing,” said Grondahl. Themes in the upcoming festival include coming-of-age stories for young girls and women, climate change scholarship, an exploration into the genre of thrillers, and more.

October’s events include autism advocate and author John Elder Robison on Monday, Oct. 7, acclaimed authors Angie Cruz and Lilliam Rivera on Tuesday, Oct. 8, groundbreaking graphic novelists Joel Christian Gill, Marcus Kramer Anderson, and David F. Walker on Wednesday, Oct. 16, Nobel Prize winner in chemistry Thomas Cech on Thursday, Oct. 24, and famed author Edwidge Danticat on Tuesday, Oct. 29.

“Readers often have their interests,” said Grondahl. “Maybe it’s sci-fi; maybe it’s romance. We try to represent that and give people something that they’re interested in.”

November will begin with an immersive event that pays homage to the founder of the Institute. Attendees are invited to a marathon public reading of William Kennedy’s 1978 novel Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game. The book will be read in its entirety by volunteers in what Grondahl describes as “a communal experience.”

Film screenings will be featured throughout the season, beginning on Friday, Sept. 6, with Lone Star, directed by John Sayles, who was born and raised in Schenectady. Sayles directed his own Oscar-nominated script that centers upon a Texas frontier town brimming with buried secrets and racial strife on the weathered plains.

Other screenings include a tribute to the origins of music itself with Lead Belly: The Man Who Invented Rock and Roll on Friday, Oct. 18. A complementary conversational event on Thursday, Oct. 31, “Lead Belly: The Man And Myth, Truth and Lies,” features Grammy-winning musician Dom Flemons and Sheila Curran Bernard, author of Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly’s Truths from Jim Crow’s Lies.

Friday, Nov. 1 marks the 100th birthday celebration of film star Eva Marie Saint’s life and legacy.

Born and raised in Delmar, Saint will be honored with a screening of her Oscar-winning film On the Waterfront. The tribute will be hosted by former Bethlehem Central High School English teacher and interviewer of Saint in 1990, Jack Rightmyer, and will also feature her career highlights and vintage photographs.

Closing out the season on Tuesday, Dec. 3, Kendall Crolius, author of Knitting with Dog Hair: Better A Sweater From A Dog You Know and Love Than From A Sheep You’ll Never Meet, will honor the 30th anniversary of her book.

The event, in partnership with Hudson Valley PAWS Therapy Dogs, allows attendees the opportunity to meet therapy dogs and join in lively knitting demonstrations.

“We hope people walk away with something they hadn’t known, or a perspective that they hadn’t thought of, and it opened their mind or touched their hearts,” said Grondahl. “We hope there is some kind of exchange—‘you share your ideas; I share mine, and maybe we’ll learn from each other.’”

“We feel that variety, challenging ourselves, and getting people to try something new are all part of our mission,” he added.

For the complete schedule of events, visit: www.nyswritersinstitute.org

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