University of Albany's New York State Writers Institute - 25 years - A Literary Institution

They've hosted 25 years of soul-baring, taboo-smashing, mind-bending literary events at the New York State Writers Institute at the University at Albany.

Since 1984, more than 1,000 novelists, poets, biographers, filmmakers, historians, essayists and creative artists who defy classification have shared secrets of their craft as part of a free-wheeling phantasmagoria of the imagination.

Remarkably, given the way writers love to spill their guts, it may be surprising that there are still some unsolved mysteries in the celebrated program's long-running narrative.

For instance, why did the cantankerous poet and literary critic Hayden Carruth get so hacked off during a panel discussion that he stood up, announced he was going to the bathroom and exited the stage before several hundred stunned spectators? He never returned and offered no explanation.

Was that an undergarment tossed on stage in honor of humorist David Sedaris?

Did Hunter S. Thompson really fire up a joint a fan passed the godfather of gonzo journalism prior to an appearance with his literary executor, the historian Douglas Brinkley?

Did novelist Mary Gordon become so spitting mad over Norman Mailer's anti-feminist remarks that she nearly took a swing at the old ex-pug during a panel discussion?

"Writing is an existential experience. You never know how the story is going to end," Mailer proclaimed during that testy appearance with Gordon during the "Telling the Truth" conference in 1991, a watershed event in the group's quarter-century.

Each event hosted by the Writers Institute bears an existential stamp. You never quite know how that evening's performance, original and unscripted, is going to turn out.

"When life is becoming so digitized and isolated and fractured by new media, it's nice to have a chance to have a direct, face-to-face opportunity to hear the artist and learn how they make their art," said author and teacher William Patrick of Troy. "These aren't canned lectures. These are amazing seminars and readings with great writers. The quality never dips below excellent."

Novelist Russell Banks, a frequent guest, likened what founder William Kennedy and director Donald Faulkner create in each season's mix of visiting writers to editing a sophisticated and often surprising literary magazine.

"They don't just bring in the usual suspects or The New York Times Book Review's flavor-of-the-month," Banks said. "They bring in rising stars along with the literary lions. ... And believe me, it's an honor (and a challenge) to read where Mailer and Vonnegut and Sontag have read before you."

Author Nicholas Delbanco, the University of Michigan's Robert Frost Distinguished University Professor of English Language and Literature and director of the MFA program, has been coming to the Writers Institute since its inception. "They are serious about the work of art, but never solemn or boring; and I return year after decade with the happy sense, always, of having come back home," Delbanco said.

Doris Kearns Goodwin said she looks forward to coming to the Writers Institute because the audience is lively and well-read, while the staff creates a welcome, friendly atmosphere for visiting authors. "Little wonder that so many of us come back again and again," she said.
Kennedy seeded the literary experiment in 1984 by donating $15,000 annually for five years from his MacArthur "genius" award prize money. Kennedy persuaded UAlbany President Vincent O'Leary to match it. Kennedy next coaxed a literary mentor, Saul Bellow, to be the visiting writer in the nascent series. Bellow drew 1,200 people.

Their second event featured Toni Morrison. She attracted another four-figure audience, with hundreds turned away.

They had a smash hit. But they had no name, no office space and no staff. They hired Jeanne Finley, an aspiring writer, and crammed into the English department office of the late Tom Smith, a professor and close friend of Kennedy's.

Kennedy and Smith finessed legislators and made the rounds of the Capitol. Later their inaugural year, Gov. Mario M. Cuomo signed into law legislation that created the New York State Writers Institute. The Legislature kicked in $100,000 in funding.

The program has grown from about 10 events a year to more than 50, with the addition of a film series, a fellows program, a summer Writers Institute at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, and an exhaustive digital archive of videotaped author readings and discussions that will be soon available to the public as a searchable database. An estimated 250,000 people have attended their events.

"It just got bigger and bigger and you can't find a bad season over the 25 years," Kennedy said. The events have always been free. They've had so many capacity crowds at Page Hall (it seats about 900), with large numbers turned away at the door, that they've lost count. Frank McCourt, Kurt Vonnegut, Joseph Heller, John Updike, Maureen Dowd and Margaret Atwood are just a few of the sell-out authors.

Garrison Keillor was so big they moved him to the SEFCU Arena and more than 3,000 fans filled the gymnasium.

Faulkner, who came in 1995 and is credited with expanding the scope and reach of the Writers Institute programs, frequently delivers formal introductions for the writers. He was caught off-guard when the Fugs, considered the first underground rock band of the 1960s, summoned Faulkner onstage, gave him a guitar and invited him to jam with them during their "literary concert" in 2003.

"What makes it unique? Bill Kennedy's presence as host and impresario and leader of the pack late at night after the readings. Also the quality of the audiences -- they're wonderfully mixed, academic and non-academic, young people and old, drawn from the entire Albany community, and they're knowledgeable, so you feel you can read from just about any place in your work and it'll be heard and understood. And Don Faulkner has to get enormous credit for the programming -- the blend of writers over a season is smart and imaginative."
-- Russell Banks

"The Writers Institute is by far my favorite stop on the book tour: The audience is always terrific, but what makes it unique is the chance to share experiences with the veteran writers in residence, to witness the joy that aspiring students take in meeting published writers, and, of course, the opportunity, at the end of the evening, to join William Kennedy in his favorite pub and listen to his unforgettable stories that bring Albany to vivid life."

-- Doris Kearns Goodwin

"As someone who witnessed the birth and infancy of the New York State Writers Institute, I'm delighted to report that it thrives in its maturity and -- by comparison with other such programs -- old age. Presided over by its founding father, William Kennedy, it remains as vital and exuberant as is he; the pleasures of the enterprise abound."

-- Nicholas Delbanco

"Very few institutions accord writers a place of honor; few resonate with such passionate respect for literature. How unusual and affirming it is to visit a place that fibrillates with excitement over -- of all things -- writing. That's why the Writers Institute is a singular treasure. Just the thought of it gives me hope and sustenance."

-- Alice Fulton

By PAUL GRONDAHL