New York State Writers Institute Presents 2021 Visiting Writers and Public Readings

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The annual series of writers reading from their works in a unique, public setting continues this year in a virtual format. 

New York State Writers Institute Public Readings for the summer of 2021 will be offered online and will begin at 7 p.m., as according to the schedule below. Reservations are not required. The readings are free. 

The readings will be held virtually this year via Zoom. For a link to attend the readings virtually, go online to: www.skidmore.edu/summerwriters/visiting-writers.php.

Monday, July 19:

Fictionist Dana Johnson (Break Any Woman Down, Elsewhere, California) and Novelist-memoirist Danzy Senna (Caucasia, Where Did You Sleep Last Night).

Dana Johnson is the author of the short story collection In the Not Quite Dark. She is also the author of Break Any Woman Down, winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, and the novel Elsewhere, California. Her work has appeared in Zyzzyva, The Paris Review, Callaloo, The Iowa Review and Huizache, among others. 

Danzy Senna’s first novel, Caucasia, won the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction and the American Library Association’s Alex Award and was translated into a dozen languages. A recipient of the Whiting Writers Award, Senna is also the author of the novels Symptomatic and New People, the short story collection You Are Free and a memoir entitled Where Did You Sleep Last night? 

Tuesday, July 20:

Novelist Joyce Carol Oates (Zombie, Blonde, The (Other) You: Stories) and Novelist Percival Everett (Telephone: A Novel).

Joyce Carol Oates won the National Book Award for her novel “them,” and has since written dozens of novels and short story collections that have made her one of the most celebrated writers of her generation. Among her best known works are Blonde, We Were The Mulvaneys, Zombie and The Gravedigger’s Daughter. Apart from her many works of fiction, Oates has also written acclaimed books of poetry and a number of books of non-fiction and memoir, the best known of which are On Boxing and A Widow’s Tale.

Percival Everett is the author of more than 20 books and recipient of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, Everett’s novels include I Am Not Sidney Poitier, So Much Blue, Erasure, Telephone and Assumption. 

Thursday, July 22:

Novelist-Memoirist Jamaica Kincaid (Among Flowers, Autobiography Of My Mother, Lucy) and Poet Henri Cole (Blizzard: Poems, Nothing To Declare).

Jamaica Kincaid is the author of many books, including Mr. Potter (described by Robert Boyers as “a perfect, perfectly heartbreaking novel”), Lucy, At The Bottom of the River, Annie John, My Brother, A Small Place, Autobiography of My Mother, and other books. Her most recent novel is See Now Then. 

Henri Cole is the author of seven books of poems, including The Look of Things, The Marble Queen, The Visible Man and Middle Earth. Cole has taught at the Summer Writers Institute since 2004. His most recent books are Blackbird & Wolf and Pierce The Skin, a volume of Selected Poems: 1982-2007.