Festival of Writers: A Sense of Place, Rensselaerville Library
Rensselaerville Library’s putting out all the stops this year for their Festival of Writers. Over the course of four days (July 28-31, 2011), authors, artists and community members will be gathering together to share their perspectives on what a sense of place means to them. Readings, workshops, a large scale photography exhibit, a film screening, a two-woman play, a book sale and gala cocktail party with the authors are some of the events that will be taking place throughout the weekend. Here’s a quick rundown of what to expect:
Thursday, July 28:
Battlesight: Dispatches from Iraq and Afghanistan: From 5pm-7pm, Battlesight, a large-scale photography exhibit will feature the work of internationally renowned photojournalists Cheryl Diaz Meyer, Balazs Gardi and Teru Kuwayama.
The exhibit, which is curated by Timothy Cahill, will be opening at the Way Out Gallery with a reception to follow at the Greendale Home. If you can’t make it to the opening, don’t worry because the exhibit will remain open for the festival weekend. This is something I would consider a Must See: While troops have been dispatched overseas as far back as immediately after 9/11, the American public has been exposed to very little of the “real war,” let alone the real faces of war.
Following the exhibit, there will be a screening of the film My Side of the Mountain, based on the book of the same name by the festival’s Guest of Honor Jean Craighead George. My Side of the Mountain is about a thirteen year-old boy who runs away into the wilderness and successfully learns to live off the land.
Friday, July 29:
Poetry Writing Workshop: The widely published poet and Professor Howard Nelson will host a poetry and writing workshop from 10am-12pm. Nelson’s expertise lies in Walt Whitman: ”I’ve always liked Whitman; he’s colorful. He’d make up his own words where he’d see fit, his poems rarely rhymed and when he would begin to ramble, he always remained poetic.” In Nelson’s workshop you can channel your inner Whitman and ramble on…
Following Nelson’s workshop, poet/playwright Nick Flynn will hold a workshop of his own, focused on The Lyric Essay. Flynn is the author of The Ticking is the Bomb and Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, which will soon be a major motion picture starring Robert DeNiro. (12pm-2pm)
From 3pm-4pm biographer/essayist Suzannah Lessard will read from and discuss both The Architect of Desire and her current book, which is about place. The hour, entitled Architecture and Our Selves, will touch upon where the meaning of architecture comes from. Is it inherently from its physical form or from our own experience in space?
Novelist Roderick Townley will then read from his new novel The Door in the Forest, and Poet and yogi Wyatt Townley will explore the concept of the body as place, and read from her book of poetry, The Afterlives of Trees. Their hour will examine place as a protagonist.
Ending the Friday night festivities will be two-time Tony Award-nominated Broadway actress Maria Tucci and New York Times beauty writer Mary Tannen as they offer a dramatic reading and discussion. On what exactly, I do not know…but it will be dramatic, and it will be about place…
Saturday, July 30:
At 9:30am, Helen Benedict will be giving a sneak-peek into her new novel Sand Queen, due out in August. She will also be discussing her research about the Iraq War, women soldiers and refugees.
Stephen O’Connor, author of fiction, non-fiction and poetry will also be reading from his new collection of short stories, Here Comes Another Lesson. (10:30-11:30am)
Timothy Cahill, the curator of Battlesight will speak further about the exhibit. (11:30am-12:30pm)
Nick Flynn returns to share selected readings from his newest works, an as yet untitled book of poetry. (1:30pm-2:30pm)
The Writer and the Wanderer: Another reading and discussion, this time with fiction and non-fiction writer Mary Morris, author of the memoir The River Queen and the novel Revenge. (2:30pm-3:30pm)
Our Side of the Mountain Children’s Program: Did you know that Ms. George’s My Side of the Mountain was inspired by Rensselaerville Falls? Saturday is also a day for the children and fans of Ms. George as she will return to the cascade’s home – the Huyuck Preserve – with her daughter and festival-featured-author Twig George, for a discussion and book signing from 11am-3pm. After the discussion, from 4pm-5pm there will be a staged reading of selections from Ms. George’s works, as a tribute to the Guest of Honor. A Cocktail Reception and BBQ with all the participating authors will follow, at the Palmer House Cafe.
Verlyn Klinkenborg and Barry Kuhar will close Saturday night as they share their musings about the rural landscape, taking part in a discussion, moderated by Bill Logan, author of Dirt. Klinkenborg is a New York Times columnist whose book Making Hay deals with rural life; Kuhar is a Rensselearville-based, farmer-naturalist. Their slot begins at 8:30pm.
Sunday, July 31:
The Festival Finale: Spend your last day of the festival (and July) with the award-winning author Francine Prose, who has written sixteen works of fiction including the Dayton Literary Peace Prize winner, A Changed Man, and National Book Award finalist Blue Angel. She will offer a reading and moderated discussion about interpreting place and time in historical nonfiction.
Whether you’re a fan of some of the featured authors, have an interest in the writing process or just want to immerse yourself in a weekend of the written word, the Festival of Writers looks as it may be a fascinating four days.
While some of the events are free, the majority of them are not. If you’re interested in any of the above, visit www.rensselaervillelibrary.org or call 518-797-3949 to register and reserve a spot. (The workshops are $50, and some reading and discussions are $10)
On the website you can also find out any other information you might need regarding the festival as well as the full bios of the participating authors.
Click here to read an Interview with Jean Craighead George.
–Aubree Cutkomp is an Assistant Editor for The Free George.
The Free George is the online magazine and visitors’ guide of Upstate NY, covering things from Albany to Lake Placid, including Saratoga, the Lake George region and the Adirondacks. Check out our City Blogs section for our extended coverage areas as well.
