NYS Summer Writers Institute to begin 25th Skidmore season

The New York State Summer Writers Institute at Skidmore College celebrates its 25 ^th year of offering classes to students of fiction, non-fiction prose, and poetry writing in July. A distinguished faculty of acclaimed writers, under the direction of Robert Boyers, professor of English at Skidmore, teaches at the Summer Writers Institute. 

The Summer Writers Institute also offers a rich schedule of free readings and discussions by participating and guest writers, many of whom have received critical acclaim and top awards over the course of their careers. The program is offeredunder the joint auspices of the Office of the Dean of Special Programs at Skidmore College and the New York State Writers Institute at the University at Albany.

Following is the complete schedule of events for summer 2011. All begin at 8 p.m. in Davis Auditorium of Palamountain Hall (except where noted). Admission to all events is free. 

July 4 - Fiction Reading:  Elizabeth Benedict (novelist, Almost) and Joseph O'Neill (novelist, Netherland, 2009 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction)

July 5 - Fiction and Poetry Reading:  Mary Gordon (author, Final Payments,Pearl) and Frank Bidart(poet, Desire)

July 6 - Fiction and Poetry Reading:  Michael Ondaatje (Booker Prize, The English Patient) and Campbell McGrath (poet, American Noise)

July 7 - Non-Fiction and Fiction Reading:  Linda Spalding (novelist andmemoirist) and Marilynne Robinson(Pulitzer Prize, Gilead)

July 8 - Poetry Reading:   Robert Pinsky (former U.S. PoetLaureate)

July 11 - Poetry and Fiction Reading:  Carolyn Forch (winner, LamontPoetry Prize; author, The Angel of History) and Andrea Barrett (NationalBook Award, Ship Fever)

July 12 - Fiction Reading: Victoria Redel (author, The Border of Truth) and Caryl Phillips (novelist, A Distant Shore, The Nature of Blood) 

July 13 - Fiction and Non-Fiction Reading:  Binnie Kirshenbaum (novelist, TheScenic Route) and Phillip Lopate (author, Waterfront)

July 14 - Fiction and Non-Fiction Reading:  Siri Hustvedt (novelist, What I Loved) and Paul Auster (author, The Brooklyn Follies)

July 15 - Fiction and Non-Fiction Reading:  William Kennedy (Pulitzer Prize, Ironweed; Roscoe) and HonorMoore (author, Red Shoes, The Bishop's Daughter)

July 18 - Poetry and Fiction Reading:  Richard Howard (Pulitzer Prize,Poetry, Talking Cures) and FrancineProse (novelist, A Changed Man)

July 19 - Fiction and Poetry Reading:  Amy Hempel (fictionist, The Dog ofthe Marriage) and Tom Healy ( What the Left Hand Knows) 

July 20 - Poetry and Fiction Reading:  Charles Simic (Former poet laureate, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet) and Danzy Senna (author, Caucasia)

July 21 - Fiction and Poetry Reading:  Russell Banks (novelist, The Darling)and Chase Twichell (poet, Dog Language)

July 22 - Fiction Reading:  Joyce Carol Oates (National BookAward, them; We Were The Mulvaneys)

July 25 - Fiction and Non-Fiction Reading:  Rick Moody (fictionist, Demonology) and James Miller ( Democracy is in the Streets)

July 26 - Non-Fiction and Poetry Reading:  Howard Norman (novelist, The BirdArtist) and Carl Dennis (Pulitzer Prize, Practical Gods)

July 27 - Fiction and Poetry Reading:  Mary Gaitskill (author, Veronica)and Peg Boyers (poet, Honey with Tobacco, Hard Bread)

July 28 - Fiction and Poetry Reading:  Jamaica Kincaid (author, Mr. Potter)and Henri Cole (poet, Middle Earth)

July 29 - Fiction Reading:  Clark Blaise (author, Resident Alien)and Bharati Mukherjee (NationalBook Critics Circle Award, The Middleman)

(Except where noted, photos by Emma Dodge Hanson)