THE LITERARY LIFE WHERE YOU FIND IT: Thursday, November 7th, at 6 pm, at the Stair Gallery, 549 Warren Street, Hudson. The Friends of the Hudson Area Library, the New York State Writers Institute, and national literary journal Fence co-present “THE LITERARY LIFE WHERE YOU FIND IT: an evening with WILLIAM KENNEDY and ELISA ALBERT.” The two writers will read from recently published fiction and essays on themes of Place and Displacement within the Literary Culture, and choosing where best to house one’s valuable creative time and energy. After the reading there will be time for conversation and discussion with audience members, and for book signing. Born in 1928 and raised in Albany’s North End, WILLIAM KENNEDY is the author of 18 works of prose: short story collections, plays, screenplays, and novels, including the eight novels that comprise The Albany Cycle. His most recent entry is Changó's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes (Viking, 2011), of which the Los Angeles Times wrote: “Before you jump fully into William Kennedy's vibrant new novel … it's useful to consider his lengthy literary path. Because Kennedy, 83, never just writes a novel. He sends updates from his imaginary Albany, N.Y.-centric world, and with ‘Changó's Beads,’ he's added a few welcome branches to some familiar family trees.” A graduate of Siena College, a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in Literature, and a longtime professor at the University at Albany, Kennedy is the founder of the New York State Writers Institute.
A native of Los Angeles, ELISA ALBERT is the author of a short story collection, How This Night is Different, a novel, The Book of Dahlia, and the forthcoming novel Afterbirth . Her essay on leaving New York City for Albany is included in the new anthology Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York (Ed. Sari Botton, Seal Press, 2013). Of Albert’s first novel The New Yorker says that “Albert writes with the black humor of Lorrie Moore and a pathos that is uniquely her own, all the more blistering for being slyly invoked.” As seating and books will be limited, it is suggested that you call Spotty Dog Books & Ale (518-671-6006) in advance to reserve yours. This event is free and open to the public. Fence is a nationally distributed, locally edited biannual literary journal and press publishing poetry, fiction, criticism, and art. An independent nonprofit press since 1998, since 2007 Fence has been produced in partnership with the Writers Institute at the University at Albany. Fence can be found online at www.fenceportal.org, or on the shelves locally at Spotty Dog Books & Ale. The New York State Writers Institute, founded in 1984 by William Kennedy, is mandated by the New York State Legislature to provide “a milieu for established and aspiring writers to work together. . .to increase the freedom of the artistic imagination.” In the Capital Region the NYSWI is well-known as a resource for literary engagement and events. The NYSWI can be found online at www.albany.edu/writers-inst.
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