All Over Albany

Writers Institute Fall schedule features Krugman, Cuomo and Rita Moreno

The Fall schedule for the New York State Writers Institute is out. And it includes what look like some pretty great events. A few dates that caught our eye are after the jump.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Writers Institute. It was started in 1984 with money William Kennedy won from his MacArthur "genius" award.

all descriptions from the institute's site

October 7 - Rita Moreno
Puerto Rico-born performer Rita Moreno is one of only twelve performers to win all four of the most prestigious awards in show business: Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Grammy. Celebrated for her Oscar-winning role as Anita in West Side Story (1962), and for her Tony-winning performance as Googie Gomez in The Ritz (1973), Moreno has recently appeared in television episodes of Law & Order, Ugly Betty, George Lopez, Oz, and Cane. In 2004 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

October 9 - Paul Krugman
Paul Krugman, winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Economics and columnist for the Op-Ed Page of the New York Times, has been called "the most important political columnist in America" (Washington Monthly), and "the most celebrated economist of his generation" (The Economist). Recent bestsellers include The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 (2008), The Conscience of a Liberal (2007), and The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century (2003).

October 15 - Lorrie Moore and Richard Russo
Lorrie Moore, Glens Falls, NY, native, master of the short story form, and "one of her generation's wittiest and shrewdest writers" (Newsweek), is beloved by fans for her "wry, crackly voice" and "askew sense of humor" (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times). A Gate at the Stairs (2009), her first novel in 15 years, tells of the dislocation of a Midwestern farm girl as she enters college life and adulthood.

Richard Russo, novelist, son of Gloversville, NY, and Pulitzer Prize-winner for Empire Falls (2001), is widely regarded as the most important writer about "Main St., USA" since Sherwood Anderson and Sinclair Lewis. His new novel is That Old Cape Magic (2009), the story of a troubled marriage set amid weddings and family reunions on Cape Cod and the Maine coast. Booklist calls it a "wryly funny, introspective novel . . .an impressively expansive analysis of familial dynamics."

November 16 - Mario Cuomo and Doris Kearns Goodwin
Mario Cuomo, one of the great orators and intellectuals of 20th century American politics, served as the 52nd Governor of the State of New York from 1983 to 1994. He has also published several notable books, including political diaries, collections of speeches, and two books on Abraham Lincoln-- most recently, Why Lincoln Matters: Today More Than Ever (2004).

Doris Kearns Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer, author of bestsellers about Lyndon Johnson, the Roosevelts, and the Kennedys. Her newest book is Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, a book which, by many accounts, helped shape President Obama's political philosophy. The Atlantic Monthly said of Team of Rivals, "[Goodwin] has written an enormous book possessed of a friendly grandeur and, against all odds, a considerable freshness."

That's only about half of the Fall schedule. All events are free, but they do fill up.

photo: Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times