Bookmark the Second Albany Book Festival

A Book Lover's Paradise: Authors, Workshops and Family Fun 

Books and authors — including Joyce Carol Oates, Jamaica Kincaid, Eric Foner and Sylvia Day (above, L-R) — will be on hand Saturday at an all-day celebration of the written word.

ALBANY, N.Y. (Sept. 12, 2019) – Come to the second Albany Book Festival hosted by the New York State Writers Institute on the Uptown Campus on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. to hear from literary giants like Joyce Carol Oates and Jamaica Kincaid in a day-long celebration of the written word.

The event is free and open to the public and will take place in the Campus Center and in an adjacent tent. Last year’s inaugural event drew 5,000 people.

In addition to Oates (My Life as a Rat) and Kincaid (Party: A Mystery!) the roster of famous writers includes:

• No. 1 New York Times best-selling author Dani Shapiro on the surprises revealed by her DNA test (Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity and Love).
• Madhur Jaffrey, the world’s leading authority on Indian cooking.
• Pulitzer-winning historian Eric Foner at the very first event for his much-anticipated new book on the U.S. Constitution, The Second Founding.
• No.1 best-selling romance writer Sylvia Day, Japanese-American author of the “Crossfire” romance series, with over 13 million books in print.
• A panel of extraordinary young African writers, including Uzodinma Iweala, whose book about child soldiers became a Netflix film starring Idris Elba.
• Wayetu Moore, author of the acclaimed debut novel about the nation of Liberia, She Would Be King, which she workshopped at the NYS Summer Writers Institute.
• Reif Larsen, who received a million dollar advance for his first novel, offering a free writing workshop for Book Festival attendees.
• New York Times sports editor Matt Futterman with his best-selling book on the secrets of long distance running, Running to the Edge.
• Will Schwalbe, author of the major best-seller, The End of Your Life Book Club.
• Cherrie Moraga, editor of the classic This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, in an intergenerational conversation with rising stars of Latino literature.
• Gardening gurus Margaret Roach (former editor-in-chief of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia) and Ken Druse (America’s leading authority on natural gardening).
• Alison Pataki, bestselling historical fiction writer and daughter of the former New York governor, with a heart-rending memoir of her husband’s recent stroke.
• Abigail Thomas talking about Three Dog Life, a memoir of her husband’s brain injury that Stephen King called “the best memoir I’ve ever read.”
• Acclaimed books on the arts of craft brewing and distilling with Lew Bryson and Craig Gravina.
• Bassey Ikpi and Mary Cregan in conversation about their acclaimed best-selling memoirs of their terrifying battles with mental illness.
• Best-selling Young Adult author L.M. Elliot with her new novel about the love affair between founding father Alexander Hamilton and Albany’s own Peggy Schuyler.
• Ricardo Cortes, illustrator of the best-selling children’s book, Go the F*** to Sleep!, named one of the Reader’s Digest “25 Funniest Books of All Time.”
• Children’s yoga with awarding-winning children’s author Susan Verde (I Am Yoga, I Am Peace, I Am Human, I Am Love).

The festival features more than 100 local writers and exhibitors, more than a dozen free writing workshops and children’s events throughout the day. Here is the full program.

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