NYS Writers Institute Announces Public Readings 2023 in Saratoga Springs 

SARATOGA SPRINGS —The New York State Summer Writers Institute will offer evening readings by an extraordinary line-up of distinguished writers this June and July. Except where noted, the readings, which are free and welcome the public, will begin at 8 p.m. in Davis Auditorium, Palamountain Hall on the Skidmore College campus.

June 26: Poet Vijay Seshadri (Pulitzer Prize, 3 Sections) & Novelist Steve Stern (Guggenheim Fellow; The Village Idiot).

June 27: Novelist Garth Greenwell (What Belongs to You; Cleanness) & Poet Carl Dennis (Practical Gods).

June 28, 7 PM: Going to the Movies with Phillip Lopate (Screening of Rohmer’s “The Marquise of O” followed by discussion).

June 29: Novelist Claire Messud (The Woman Upstairs; The Emperor’s Children) & Memoirist Honor Moore (Our Revolution: A Mother and Daughter at Mid-Century).

June 30: Poet Gregory Pardlo (Pulitzer Prize, Digest) & Novelist and Memoirist Elizabeth Benedict (Rewriting Illness: A View of My Own).

July 3: Memoirist Phillip Lopate (Portrait Inside My Head: Essays) & Poet Campbell McGrath (Nouns & Verbs: New and Selected Poems).

July 4: Novelist and Memoirist Mary Gordon (Pearl; Payback) & Poet Rosanna Warren (So Forth: Poems).

July 5: Poet Katha Pollitt (Learning to Drive and Other Life Stories) Panel with Mary Gordon, Robert Boyers and Writers Institute Students: The Writer & The Culture of Censorship.

July 6: Novelist Mary Gaitskill (The Mare; Veronica) & Novelist Calvin Baker (A More Perfect Reunion: Race, Integration, and The Future of America).

July 7: Poetry & Jazz²: An Evening with former US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky and Grammy Award-winning musicians Todd Coolman (bass) & Bill Cunliffe (piano) at Caffe Lena.

July 10: Fictionist Amy Hempel (Sing to It: New Stories) & Poet Chase Twichell (Things as It Is).

July 11: Novelist Binnie Kirshenbaum (Rabbits for Food) & Poet Peg Boyers (To Forget Venice; Hard Bread; Honey With Tobacco).

July 12, 7 PM: Going to the Movies: Screening of “TAR” followed by discussion with Poet Peg Boyers (To Forget Venice; Hard Bread; Honey With Tobacco) & Robert Boyers.

July 13: American linguist John McWhorter (Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America) & Author Thomas Chatterton Williams (contributing writer The Atlantic; Self-Portrait in Black and White) in A Conversation on “Writing About Race.”

July 14: Novelist Rick Moody (The Ice Storm; Hotels of North America) & Novelist Adam Braver (November 22, 1963; Rejoice the Head of Paul McCartney ) at Caffe Lena.

July 17: Fictionist Francine Prose (The Vixen) & Novelist-memoirist Danzy Senna (Caucasia; Where Did You Sleep Last Night).

July 18: Novelist Joyce Carol Oates (Zombie; Blonde; The (Other) You: Stories) & Poet April Bernard (The World Behind the World: Poems).

July 19: Remembering Novelist Russell Banks (Foregone; Affliction; The Lost Memory of Skin) with Joyce Carol Oates, Nicholas Delbanco (It is Enough; What Remains), Tom Healy (Getting Great in the Door: The Ultimate Guide for Fraternity Recruitment; What the Right Hand Knows), Adam Braver and Robert Boyers, Payne Room, Tang Museum, Skidmore College.

July 20: Novelist-Memoirist Jamaica Kincaid (Among Flowers; Autobiography Of My Mother; Lucy) and Poet Henri Cole (Blizzard: Poems; Nothing To Declare).

July 21: Pulitzer Prize-winning Novelist William Kennedy (Very Old Bones; Legs; Ironweed) & Friends.

For 36 summers, the New York State Summer Writers Institute has offered aspiring students the opportunity to learn from a distinguished faculty of award-winning authors led by director Robert Boyers. Originally an offshoot of the New York State Writers Institute created by Albany native and Pulitzer Prizewinning author William Kennedy, the program has become widely known for its small classes offering individualized attention in a supportive environment.