Media Advisory: New York State Writers Institute Names State Author and State Poet
Award ceremony will be held at The Capitol and laureates will read from their works on March 3

Contact(s):  Catherine Herman (518) 956-8150, ([email protected])

ALBANY, N.Y. (February 29, 2008)

What:
The New York State Writers Institute has announced the State Author and State Poet for 2008-2010. The citations were established in 1985 by the governor and state legislature to promote fiction and poetry within the state. Upon the recommendation of two advisory panels of distinguished writers convened under the aegis of the New York State Writers Institute, the governor awards the citations every two years. 

Who:

• Mary Gordon, New York State Edith Wharton Citation of Merit as State Author
• Jean Valentine, New York State Walt Whitman Citation of Merit as State Poet
• Governor Eliot Spitzer and First Lady Silda Wall Spitzer
• George M. Philip, Interim President, University at Albany
• William Kennedy, chair, ex officio, Executive Director, New York State Writers Institute
• Donald Faulkner, chair, ex officio, Director, New York State Writers Institute

When, Where:
Monday, March 3, 2008.

• Award ceremony: 3:30 p.m. The Capitol, Blue Room, Albany N.Y.
• Laureate reading: 8 p.m., Page Hall, University at Albany, 135 Western Ave, Albany, N.Y.