THE CENTER FOR THE LITERARY ARTS IN NEW YORK STATE
Welcome
Thank you for considering —one of America’s premiere
sites for celebrating the art of the written word—as a venue for
your literary event. We promise our guests grand treatment and enthusiastic
promotion of their work. We are reknowned for our hospitality, good literary
conversation, fine dining and a relaxed atmosphere. Our Visiting Writers Series has featured both newly published and Nobel
and Pulitzer-Prize winning authors. Over 850 artists have visited the Institute
since Saul Bellow’s inaugural reading in the Spring of 1984. (See our index of
authors and events). All of our events are free and open to the public.
A typical author visit includes an informal seminar from 4:15
p.m. to 5:15 p.m. This is usually tied to an academic class offered in conjunction
with our Visiting Writer Series (with required book orders of 30-80)
and is a very informal question-and-answer session with students and
faculty, moderated by Institute Director Paul Grondahl, Assistant Director Mark Koplik, and others. After the seminar
we take our guests out for a relaxing dinner with a few members of the
Institute staff at 6:00 p.m., which is followed by a public presentation/reading
at 8:00 p.m. (dinner can also be after the reading). Most of our
visiting writers read from and/or talk about their work for 40-45 minutes,
take questions from the audience for 10-15 minutes and then sign books.
Books are available for sale at both the afternoon seminar and evening
reading. We request
permission to audio and video tape the events for our archive. In addition
we normally videotape a 10-15 minute one-on-one interview prior to the
afternoon seminar, also for our archive. We are happy to alter this schedule
based on our visitors’ preferences.
The Writers Institute is housed at the University
at Albany in Albany, NY. Albany is located 150 miles from New York
City, and 165 miles from Boston, and is serviced by the Albany/Rensselaer AMTRAK rail
station, and Albany International
Airport. We have been successful working with authors on an appearance
date just before or just after a Chicago, Washington, D.C., Boston,
or New York City event. Most of our visiting writers coming from
New York City find the two-hour-and-fifteen minute AMTRAK train ride
along the Hudson River to be very scenic and relaxing and much less
of a hassle than flying. For any of our visitors on book tour, the
Institute can cover transportation in the Northeast, lodging, and
meals. We also provide all local transportation including pick-up
from and to the train station or airport and between the hotel and
the various event venues.
The University at Albany has a number of spaces suitable
for a variety of events and presentations. Venues and their seating
capacity include: Assembly Hall – 175; Campus Center Room 375 – 100;
Ballroom – 750;
Recital Hall – 240; Main Theatre – 500; Page Hall – 830;
the SEFCU Center – 2,500; as well as a number of more intimate spaces
with seating capacities ranging from 40 – 100. Most of the spaces
are equipped to accommodate a variety of audio/visual needs for presentations—DVD,
VHS, and PowerPoint. Page Hall also boasts a 16 mm and state-of-the-art
35 mm film projection and sound system.
The Institute works with two reporting booksellers:
Our campus
Barnes & Noble covers the afternoon seminars,
and Albany's major independent, The Book House ( a recent PW Bookseller
of the Year) covers the evening events. We can assure that a current book will be the only
featured book sold, or we can assure that an entire backlist by an
author can be represented.
The Institute is considered one of the great cultural assets
of the region, and therefore receives strong media attention through local
TV stations and newspapers (Times Union, Gazette, Metroland, Troy
Record, and others). We also have an extensive publicity network of
libraries, colleges and schools, and arts and civic organizations, which
extends south to Poughkeepsie, north to Lake Placid, west to Syracuse,
and east to Northampton and Springfield, Massachusetts. Our publicity includes
press releases, poster mailings, a printed brochure, and an extensive website
which receives upwards of 5,000 visitors a week.
We look forward to working with you to showcase your literary events.
If you have any questions or particular requests, please feel free to give
us a call. We would be pleased to work with you on scheduling an author visit.
TO HELP US PROMOTE EVENTS PLEASE SEND:
- 3 copies of current works
- 2 copies of back list works
- Photo (color preferably—jpg file and/or hard copy)
- Bio and press materials
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Science Library, SL 320, University
at Albany, NY 12222 | Phone 518-442-5620, Fax 518-442-5621, email [email protected]
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