Richard Ford is a master storyteller whose work explores the challenges of marriage, love, and intimacy. His new bestselling novel, Lay of the Land, is set during the Thanksgiving holiday, amid the uncertain outcome of the 2000 presidential election. His most recent collection of stories is A Multitude of Sins (2002), which deals with love relationships in peril. Ford's 1986 novel, The Sportswriter, is widely regarded as one of the most important works of fiction of the last decade. Time named it one of the five best books of 1986. Independence Day (1995), the sequel to The Sportswriter, earned Ford both the Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award. In 2001, Ford received the PEN/Malamud Award for his important contributions to the art of short fiction. Ford's stories have been published in Esquire, The Paris Review, and The New Yorker. Cosponsored by the Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza.

Leslie Marmon Silko, novelist, essayist, and poet, is a major figure of the Native American literary renaissance. Born in Albuquerque of Pueblo, Anglo, and Mexican ancestry, Silko grew up at Laguna Pueblo where she learned the traditional stories that provide the mythic foundation of her work. Silko's first novel was Ceremony (1977), the tale of a "half-breed" World War II veteran and his battle against personal demons. Ceremony received the American Book Award, sold three quarters of a million copies, and sparked a revolution in Native American literature. Sherman Alexie has called it, "one of the greatest novels of any time and place." This year, Penguin Classics will publish a 30th Anniversary Edition of Ceremony, featuring a new introduction by Larry McMurtry. Silko's other novels include Gardens in the Dunes (1999) and Almanac of the Dead (1991).

Susan Cheever, novelist, nonfiction writer, and Newsday columnist, is the bestselling author of four extraordinary memoirs, including Note Found in a Bottle: My Life as a Drinker (1999), about her near-fatal battle with alcoholism; and Home Before Dark (1984), a loving, but unsparing portrait of her father, John Cheever, the brilliant, troubled writer known for his stories of American suburbia. Home Before Dark was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award and received the Boston Globe Winship Book Award. Susan Cheever's most recent book is the "group biography," American Bloomsbury (2007), a study of the intertwined lives and love affairs of Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry David Thoreau. Library Journal called it, "Essential reading for anyone with an interest in American letters."

Lisa Thompson is an acclaimed, emerging playwright, poet, and scholar whose work explores black female desire and the middle class African American family. Her new play-in-progress, "Underground," is an examination of slavery's lingering impact on African Americans in the 21st century. Thompson's play, "Single Black Female" (1998), is a two-woman performance that explores the lives, loves, and identities of middle class African American women. "Single Black Female" was hailed by L.A. Weekly as "a bracing, funny, bittersweet. . .show that is both bigger than life and wondrously small, with plenty of notes in between." Her earlier plays include "Monroe" (1997) and "Dreadtime Stories: One Sista's hair" (1994). Thompson teaches African American literature and culture in the Department of English at the University at Albany.

To "Quote" or Not to Quote: Understanding Intellectual Property Rights for Writers of Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry Panel Discussion
A lawyer, a librarian, and a publisher will address an issue of vital importance in an age when information has become the world's number one commodity. Topics under discussion will include the legal nature and history of intellectual property rights; usage issues concerning text, images, sounds, and ideas; the Internet, weblogs and other new media; the impact of laws on academic professionals, artists, and the media industry; and the conflict between property rights and the freedoms of inquiry and expression. Panel Participants:
Paul Rapp is an intellectual property law attorney specializing in copyright, trademark, Internet, and art and entertainment matters.
Lorre Smith is Librarian for Digital Library Initiatives at the University at Albany, and author of the weblog, "Copyright Resources and Current Issues."
James Peltz is the Interim Director at SUNY Press, one of the largest public university presses in the world. Cosponsored by Hudson Valley Writers Guild

To celebrate the release of their CDs The Bi-Continental Chowder and Routes, Not Roots, performance artist Nicole Peyrafitte and poet Pierre Joris have created a multi-media event. They will perform a selection of Peyrafitte's songs and Joris' poems that are featured on the CDs. The evening will be framed by Peyrafitte's "Bi-Continental Chowder" prepared, commented, simmered, and served right on stage--a truly synesthetic experience that will stimulate all the senses. Pyreanean-born Nicole Peyrafitte is a performance artist who sings, paints, films writers and cooks. She draws on her eclectic heritage to perform songs ranging from French cabaret to jazz standards and contemporary poetry. Pierre Joris is a poet, essayist, translator, and anthologist whose most recent publications include Poasis: Selected Poems 1986-1999 (2001), and a collection of essays, A Nomad Poetics (2003). Recent translations include Lightduress (2004) by Paul Celan which received the 2005 PEN Poetry Translation Award. Joris teaches in the UAlbany English Dept.

Michael Kammen, Pulitzer Prize-winning cultural historian, is the author most recently of Visual Shock: A History of Art Controversies in American Culture (2006). the book chronicles many of the debates about aesthetics and morality while examining the essential role played by "freedom of expression" in American democracy. The Boston Globe called the book, "deep, richly detailed, and enlightening." The author and editor of more than thirty books, Kammen received the Pulitzer Prize for People of Paradox: An Inquiry Concerning the Origins of American Culture (1972), and the Francis Parkman and Henry Adams Prizes for A Machine That would Go of Itself: The Constitution in American Culture (1986). He is also the author of A Time to Every Purpose: the Four Seasons in American Culture (2004). Cosponsored by the UArt Museum in conjunction with the exhibit "Mr. President," January 18-April 1, 2007.

Hamid Dabashi, Iranian-American scholar, is a major academic authority on Islam and Middle Eastern culture. He has been hailed as "a leading light in Iranian studies" by The Chronicle of Higher Education. His newest books are Iran: A People Interrupted (2007), a one-volume analysis of Iranian history over the course of the last two centuries, culminating in the combative presidency of Muhammad Ahmedinejad, and Masters & Masterpieces of Iranian Cinema (2004), a survey of twelve major Iranian filmmakers. Dabashi is also editor of the essay anthology, Dreams of a Nation: On Palestinian Cinema (2006), the most comprehensive book on that subject in any language. Dabashi is Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature of Columbia University.

Beverly Guy-Sheftall, pioneering scholar, is the founder and director of the Spelman College Women's Research and Resource Center (WRRC), a vibrant institution specializing in the study and advancement of black female activism. Guy-Sheftall's newest book is Gender Talk: The Struggle for Women's Equality in African American Communities (2003, coauthored with Johnetta Betsch Cole). Ebony magazine called it, "A groundbreaking look at the controversial topic of sexism and gender politics within African American communities." Her previous books include Traps: African American Men on Gender and Sexuality (2001), Words of Fire: An Anthology of African American Feminist Thought (1995), and Daughters of Sorrow: Attitudes Toward Black Women, 1880-1920 (1991). Since 1983, she has been founding co-editor of Sage: A Scholarly Journal on Black Women. Guy-Sheftall will speak about the changing links between Women's Studies and Black/Ethnic Studies over the last three decades. Cosponsored by UA Depts of Women's Studies, Africiana Studies, Social Welfare, UAS, and GSO's CATALYST.

Sina Najafi, creator and editor-in chief of Cabinet Magazine will talk about the magazine�s new book, Presidential Doodles: Two Centuries of Scribbles, Scratches, Squiggles and Scrawls from the Oval Office (2006). Featuring drawings by U.S. presidents of nearly every era, the book provides a rare glimpse into the private personalities of America's most famous men. Highlights include a diagram of the Pythagorean theorem by a young John Adams and numerous cowboy cartoons drawn by Ronald Reagan on White House stationery. Cosponsored by the University Art Museum

Rebecca Wolff, founding editor and publisher of the journal FENCE--which in its relatively short life has become one of the most respected literary journals in America--will present a seminar on producing a literary journal. Wolff is also the founder of the small press Fence Books. In the evening she, along with three of Fence Books' featured poets will read from their work.
Michael Earl Craig is the author of Yes, Master (2006) and You Relax in My House (2002).
Ariana Reines' first book, The Cow (2006), was the winner of the Alberta Prize from Fence Books. She writes on art for tema celeste and is at work on a film.
Prageeta Sharma won the 2004 Fence Modern Poet's Book Prize for The Opening Question. Infamous Landscapes is forthcoming.
Rebecca Wolff is the author of two books of poems, Manderley (U Illinois Press, 2001) and Figment (WW Norton, 2004). She is also the founding editor of "The Constant Critic," a monthly poetry-review web site.

Wallace Shawn, one of the great character actors of modern film, is also a prizewinning playwright. In 2005, he received PEN America's Laura Pels Foundation Award which is presented to "a master American dramatist." The son of legendary New Yorker editor William Shawn, he received an Obie Award from The Village Voice for his first play, "Our Late Night" (1975). As a screenwriter, he cowrote and costarred in Louis Malle's arthouse hit, MY DINNER WITH ANDRE (1981). As an actor, Shawn made his stage debut in his own translation of Machiavelli's "The Mandrake" (1977), and his film debut in Woody Allen's MANHATTAN (1979). Since then, he has become one of the most in-demand and recognizable actors in America. He has appeared in the films THE BOSTONIANS, SHADOWS AND FOG, PRICK UP YOUR EARS, THE PRINCESS BRIDE, and THE MODERNS. He has also had recurring roles on the TV show Start Trek: Deep Space Nine, Clueless, Crossing Jordan, and The Cosby Show. Shawn will discuss his over 30 year career as an actor and playwright.Cosponsored by the Dept of Theatre and funded by the Jarka & Grayce Susan Burian Endowment

Sheila Kohler, South African fiction writer, is known for troubling, vivid tales of people trapped in perverse relationships. Based on a true story, her newest novel is Bluebird, or the Invention of Happiness (2007), about an aristocratic woman who flees the French Revolution to set up a dairy farm in 18th century Albany, New York. Four of Kohler's works have recently been reissued in 2005 and 2006 paperback editions, including the novels, Crossways (2004), Children of Pithiviers (2001), Cracks (1999), chosen as a Book of the Year by Newsday and Library Journal, and The Perfect Place (1989).
Angela Pneuman's first book is Home Remedies: Stories (2007), a startling debut collection of tales about Christian fundamentalists grappling with intimate longings and crises of faith. Publishers Weekly termed the collection, "fine literary writing . . . excellent." Her fiction has appeared in The Best American Short Stories 2004, as well as many other literary magazines. A former Stegner Fellow at Stanford Univ, Pneuman is a doctoral candidate in the Dept of English at UAlbany.

Faith and Doubt in Contemporary Jewish Fiction
Elisa Albert is the author of the short story collection, How This Night is Different (2006). Time Out New York praised the book for its "wonder-inducing blend of sharp humor, religious ambivalence, and caustic wisdom." Albert is an adjunct ass't prof of creative writing at Columbia and editor-at-large of Jewcy.com.
Shalom Auslander is the author of Beware of God: Stories (2005), Esquire called Beware of God, "Heretical. Hysterical." Born and raised in an Orthodox family in upstate New York, and a self-described "survivor" of Holocaust survivors, Auslander wrestles with theological issues in absurdist fashion. He is a frequent guest on the public radio show, "This American Life."
Peter Orner is the author of the novel, The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo (2006), a San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller, and the story collection, Esther Stories (2001), winner of the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Goldberg Prize for Jewish Fiction. Writing in the New York Times, Margot Livesey called Esther Stories, "brooding, mysterious, ineffable, beautiful."
Joel Berkowitz, co-moderator of the panel, is Chair of the Judaic Studies Dept at UA, and assoc prof of Modern Jewish Studies. He is the author of Shakespeare on the American Yiddish Stage (2002), editor of Yiddish Theatre: New Approaches (2003), and editor and translator (with Jeremy Dauber) of Landmark Yiddish Plays (2006).
Edward Schwarzschild, co-moderator, is an assoc prof in the UA English Dept and a fellow at the NYSWI. His first novel, Responsible Men, was chosen as one of the "Best Books of 2005" by the San Francisco Chronicle and it was named "Best Literary Debut of 2005" by the Albany Times Union. It was also a finalist for the Samuel Goldberg & Sons Foundation Prize for Jewish Fiction. Cosponsored by UAlbany's Department of Judaic Studies

Lynne Tillman is a fiction writer, essayist, art critic, and educator. Her latest novel, American Genius, A Comedy (2006), dismantles American myths, past and present, through the obsessions, fears, and doubts of an unnamed woman. She is also the author of two collections of essays, The Broad Picture (1997) and Absence Makes the Heart (1990), as well as The Velvet Years: Warhol�s Factory 1965�1967 (1994), with photographs by Stephen Shore. Tillman is Prof/Writer in Residence at the UAlbany, and in 2006 was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. She has taught writing and visual art at Yale University, Bard College, and elsewhere. Co-sponsored in conjunction with the University Art Museum exhibition Mr. President, for which Tillman is the catalogue essayist.

Elizabeth Kolbert, award-winning journalist, is the author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change (2006), an exploration of the science, politics, and human impact of global warming. The book grew out of a widely influential three-part series of articles she wrote on the subject that was published in the New Yorker. Kolbert is a staff writer at the New Yorker, and formerly wrote for the New York Times for fifteen years, serving as Albany Bureau Chief (1988-91), covering the national elections in 1992 and 1996, and writing the "Metro Matters" column. She is a recipient of the George Polk Award and Walter T. Brown Award for journalism. Her first book was The Prophet of Love: And Other Tales of Power and Deceit (2004), a collection of profiles of New York political figures from Boss Tweed to Hillary Clinton.
Kolbert's appearance is in conjunction with the UAlbany Reading Project, a program to engage the entire Univ community in reading and reflecting on a common text. Kolbert's book Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature and Climate Change is the featured work.

Natalie Angier, Pulitzer Prize-winning science reporter for the New York Times, and bestselling nonfiction author, is widely regarded as one of the wittiest and most eloquent science writers presently at work. Angier is also an outspoken atheist. Her new book is The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science (2007), an entertaining and informative primer for nonscientists. The book has been described as "a joyride through the major scientific disciplines: physics, chemistry, biology, geology and astronomy." Angier's previous books include the bestselling guide to female anatomy, Woman: An Intimate Geography (1999); The Beauty of the Beastly (1995), and Natural Obsessions: Striving to Unlock the Deepest Secrets of the Cancer Cell (1988, 1999).
Biologist David Sloan Wilson is a leading scholar in the science of religion. Distinguished Professor of Biology and Anthropology at Binghamton University, Wilson is the author of Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society (2002). His new book is Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives (2007). Niles Eldredge from the American Museum of Natural History said this book, "fills a gap in understanding evolution, and will help in the much-needed bridge building across the divide that has threatened educational values in recent years." Cosponsored by UAlbany's Journalism Program

Walter Isaacson, bestselling biographer and former news media executive, is the author of Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007), a fresh new glimpse of the physicist's private life based on a newly-released trove of personal letters. Noted physicist and author Brian Greene praised the book saying, "With an effortless style that belies a sharp attention to detail and scientific accuracy, Isaacson takes us on a soaring journey through the life, mind, and science of the man who changed our view of the universe." Isaacson is also the author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003). Writing in the New York Times, historian Joseph Ellis called the book, "a prime candidate for the authoritative Franklin [biography] of our time." Isaacson's other books include Kissinger: A Biography (1992), and The Wise Men (1987), which received the Harry Truman Book Prize. A key player in the American media business in recent years, Isaacson is former chairman and CEO of CNN, and former managing editor of TIME. Co-sponsored by The Greater Capital Region Teacher Center

Edward P. Jones received the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel The Known World (2003), a national bestseller. Set in the American South before the Civil War, it tells the morally complex tale of a free Black farming family that owns Black slaves. Hailed by critics as a new American classic, the novel also received the National Book Critics Circle Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award. Jones's newest book is All Aunt Hagar's Children (2006), a collection of tales about Blacks from the South who have migrated to Washington, D.C., the author's home city, in search of a better life. The reviewer for the Christian Science Monitor said, "Edward P. Jones's prose is so richly textured and assured that he makes other good writers seem merely clever by comparison." Jones's earlier story collection, Lost in the City (1992), earned the PEN/Hemingway Award and was a National Book Award finalist. Jones received a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 2004. Cosponsored by Rensselaer's 66th McKinney Writing Contest and Reading

Steven Bach, acclaimed author, producer, and former head of worldwide production at United Artists, is the author of the new biography, Leni: The Life and Work of Leni Riefenstahl (2007), the Nazi propagandist, influential film stylist, and pioneering female director. Drawing on newly-available primary sources, Bach proves that Riefenstahl was a passionate believer in Naziism from the party's beginnings, and remained so throughout the war, despite her protests to the contrary. Bach's earlier books include Dazzler: The Life and Times of Moss Hart (2001), and Marlene Dietrich (1992). At United Artists, Bach was involved in the making of such films as Manhattan (1979), Raging Bull (1980), and The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981) as well as the infamous anti-Western, Heaven's Gate (1980). Bach's memoir, Final Cut: Art, Money, and Ego in the Making of "Heaven's Gate, the Film That Sank United Artists" (1985, 1999), was shortlisted for "Book of the Year" by the British Film Institute. [New York Times Review ]

H�l�ne Cixous, Algeria-born French intellectual, novelist, playwright, memoirist and prose poet, is a major postmodern author and a leading figure in the fields of cultural and literary theory. Jacques Derrida proclaimed her "the greatest writer in what I will call my language, the French language if you like." Her major works of criticism include Stigmata: Surviving Texts (1998), Three Steps on the Ladder of Writing (1991), and Coming to Writing (1977). Cixous is also the author of numerous plays and works of fiction. Recent publications in English translation include Dream I Tell You (2006), The Day I Wasn't There (2006), The Writing Notebooks (2004), and Portrait of Jacques Derrida as a Young Jewish Saint (2003). [See also H�l�ne Cixous: Written Initials - Ultimate Plays, an international Symposium] Cosponsored by UA's Depts of Language, Literatures, & Cultures; English; Women's Studies; Judaic Studies; College of Arts & Sciences; Office of the Provost; GSO; UAS; Writing Center; CHATS; & Dept of English, Syracuse U

David O. Stewart's much-anticipated first book is The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution (2007), an original and lively work of legal history. The book presents the fiery debates and furious political bargaining that characterized the Philadelphia Convention, as well as the unique personalities who helped to create the world's first constitutional democracy. In writing the book, Stewart applies his 25 years of experience arguing constitutional cases, including two before the U. S. Supreme Court. He is the author of a short story, "When They Did It," a finalist for the Pushcart Prize. Cosponsored by the UAlbany History Dept in conjunction with the annual Fossieck Lecture

Norman Mailer, a formidable presence in American letters for nearly six decades, is the author of novels, creative nonfiction, short stories, essays, and screenplays. His new novel is The Castle in the Forest (2007), a fictional chronicle of Adolf Hitler's boyhood. The book is narrated by Dieter, a devil assigned by Satan to nurture young Adolf. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called it a "compelling portrait of a monstrous soul." Mailer's previous novel was The Gospel According to the Son (1997), a retelling of the Gospels from Jesus's point of view. Mailer received the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for The Armies of the Night: History as a Novel, the Novel as History (1968), a classic of the "New Journalism" genre. He received a second Pulitzer Prize for The Executioner's Song (1979), a "true life novel" about convicted killer Gary Gilmore. A perennial candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, Mailer received the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters of the National Book Foundation in 2005.

Lucy Anne Hurston, niece of major 20th century writer Zora Neale Hurston, is the author of the remarkable multimedia biography, Speak, So You Can Speak Again: A Life of Zora Neale Hurston (2004), which consists of text, photographs, a CD, and various pieces of removable memorabilia. Booklist said in a starred review, "The text is a cogent and spirited conjuring of Hurston's vibrant personality ... but the incredible illustrative matter is the real draw and what makes the book so amazing." NOTE: Lucy Anne Hurston will provide film commentary and answer questions immediately following the screening of THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD. Cosponsored by the Upper Hudson Library System as part of "The Big Read," an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest.