NYS Writers Institute, September 27, 2014

4:00 p.m. Reading and Book Signing | Campus Center Ballroom, Campus Center, Uptown Campus

CALENDAR LISTING:
U. S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand will speak about her new book on empowering women, Off the Sidelines (2014), on Saturday, September 27, 2014 at 4:00 p.m. in the Campus Center Ballroom on the University at Albany’s uptown campus. Tickets are $27 (purchase of a book is included), and may be purchased in advance from The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza (489-4761), Market Block Books (328-0045), or at the door. Students with a valid ID are welcome without a ticket as space allows. The event is sponsored by The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza in conjunction with the New York State Writers Institute.

PROFILE
Kirsten Gillibrand, junior United States Senator from New York, is a rising star in the leadership of the Democratic Party, and is widely talked about as a future contender for the U. S. Presidency. TIME magazine counted her among the “100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2014, and among the top 26 serving in government.

An advocate for the empowerment of women, Gillibrand is the author of the new book, Off the Sidelines: Raise Your Voice, Change the World (2014), which is both a political and personal memoir as well as “a playbook for women who want to step up, whether in Congress or the boardroom or the local PTA.” In advance praise, Gloria Steinem calls it, “one of the most helpful, readable, down-to-earth, and truly democratic books ever to come out of the halls of power.” Arianna Huffington said, “Kirsten Gillibrand has written a handbook for the next generation of women to redefine their role in our world.” Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said that Gillibrand writes “in a voice that is honest, funny, blunt, and strong,” and that the book “fulfills a vital public purpose.”

The book features a three-page foreword by Hillary Clinton. “The first time I shook Kirsten Gillibrand’s hand, she looked me square in the eyes and said, ‘How can I help?’’’ Clinton writes. “I was running for Senate in New York and Kirsten wanted to do everything she could for the campaign. But there was more to it than that. Kirsten has built her whole life around the question ‘How can I help?’”

In the book Gillibrand shares stories of what it was like to grow up in Albany as the daughter and granddaughter of two trailblazing feminists in a politically active family, and retraces her nonlinear path to public office. Born and raised in New York’s state capital, and educated at the Emma Willard School in Troy, Gillibrand credits her grandmother, local political organizer Polly Noonan, and her mother, attorney Penny Rutnik, with sparking her interest in politics. Secretary and confidante to long-serving Albany Mayor Erastus Corning III, Polly Noonan was also the vice chairwoman of the Democratic State Committee during the tenure of Governor Mario Cuomo. For more than 30 years until her death, she also served as president of the Albany Democratic Women’s Club, which she founded. Dedicated to her grandmother, the new book also confronts head-on the unusually close friendship and persistent rumors of romance between Mayor Corning and Polly Noonan.

Tickets for Gillibrand’s reading are $27, which includes a copy of the new book, and may be purchased at the door, or in advance at The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany (518-489-4761) or Market Block Books, Troy (518-328-0045). Children under 18 accompanied by a ticketed parent will be admitted free. Couples need only purchase one book. College students with a valid ID are welcome without a ticket as space permits.

For additional information, contact The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza at 518-489-4761.