January 23, 2004 (Friday) 7:30 p.m. Screening Page Hall, 135 Western Ave Albany, New York The Color of Money (see Classic Film Series)

January 27, 2004 (Tuesday) 4:15 p.m. Informal Seminar Assembly Hall, CC 8:00 p.m. Reading Introduction by William Kennedy Recital Hall Performing Arts Center UAlbany, Uptown Campus

Richard Price

Bronx-born Richard Price is one of the most sought-after writers of streetwise plots and dialogue for the motion picture industry. Price is also one of America�s leading crime novelists, an author whose hard-boiled, provocative and often violent books transcend genre and earn rave reviews in major newspapers and journals.

Price received an Academy Award nomination for his screenplay for The Color of Money (1986), a film that netted Paul Newman an Oscar for Best Actor. Other screenwriting credits include John Singleton�s remake of Shaft (2000); Ron Howard�s Ransom (1996), starring Mel Gibson; Spike Lee�s Clockers, starring Harvey Keitel; Kiss of Death (1995), starring David Caruso and Samuel L. Jackson; Mad Dog and Glory and Night and the City (1992), both starring Robert De Niro; Martin Scorcese�s film segment Life Lessons, part of a trilogy of shorts included in the film New York Stories (1989); and Arena Brains (1988), starring Eric Bogosian.

Some of Richard Price�s novels have also been made into films, including the The Wanderers (1979), a film that has attracted a cult following, and Bloodbrothers (1978), starring Richard Gere and Paul Sorvino. Price is also the author of both novel and screenplay for the forthcoming Freedomland (2004), a thriller about race relations starring Morgan Freeman and Julianne Moore.

Richard Price�s most recent novel is Samaritan (2003), the story of a TV writer, Ray Mitchell, who returns to live and teach creative writing in the urban New Jersey slum of his childhood. After Ray is assaulted and left for dead by someone he knows, he refuses to disclose the perpetrator�s identity. Regardless, Nerese Ammons, a female cop and Ray�s childhood friend, is determined to solve the crime. Samaritan was also a selection of the Read This! Book Club on ABC�s Good Morning America.

This is a crime in which the victim is the real mystery. Giving new meaning to the term �inner city,� Price yields up not just the familiar, blanched moonscape of urban blight but the inner lives and jackhammering hearts of those who pace and patrol it. - The New Yorker

"Wrenching." . . . "Where a typical crime novel would traffic in surprises and twists, Price has always eschewed the formula. The wisdom and impact of his recent books derive from his insight into just how unspectacular crime can be�. On the narrative journey from mystery to resolution, Price demonstrates his usual gifts for dialogue, detail and empathetic portraiture�" - Samuel G. Freedman, The Chicago Tribune

Other recent novels include Freedomland (1998), a story about a carjacking that mines racial tensions in modern-day America, and Clockers (1992), a tale of the inner city drug trade.

"a big, cinemascope thriller, a novel that captures the racial politics and media madness of the Age of O.J., a novel that transforms today�s headlines into a forceful harrowing drama. . . a terrific read. - Michiko Kakutani, New York Times on Freedomland

One hell of a book. - The Washington Post Book World on Clockers

An unforgettable picture of inner-city decay and despair. - USA Today on Clockers

Other books by Richard Price include The Break (1983), Ladies� Man (1978), Bloodbrothers (1976) and his much-acclaimed first novel, The Wanderers (1974), a tale of New York street gangs loosely modeled on Homer�s Odyssey.

Prior to Richard Price�s visit on January 27th, the Writers Institute will screen the film The Color of Money, based on Price�s screenplay, on Friday, January 23, 2004 at 7:30 PM in Page Hall on the University at Albany�s downtown campus. The screening is free and open to the public.