Contemporary Writers Series 2010-2011
Founded with a grant from the John R. Oishei Foundation, the series continues through the generous support of the Peter Canisius Distinguished Teaching Professorship Program and the Hassett and Scoma Endowments, and with the cooperation of The Buffalo & Erie Country Public Library, Just Buffalo Literary Center, Western New York Writing Project, and Talking Leaves Books. For more information, contact Mick Cochrane, Series Coordinator, 716-888-2662.
FALL 2010
Sarah Shun-lien BynumTuesday, September 21, 2010; 7:30 p.m.
Grupp Fireside Lounge
Sarah Shun-lien Bynum is a graduate of Brown University and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. Her first novel, Madeleine is Sleeping, was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2004. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Tin House, Georgia Review, and The Best American Short Stories. Her second book, Ms. Hempel Chronicles, was a finalist for the Pen/Faulkner Award for fiction. She teaches writing at the University of California, San Diego.
Web Resources
Reviews Of Ms. Hempel Chronicles:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/01/books/review/Emmons-t.html?_r=1Audio (Interviews and Readings):
http://articles.sfgate.com/2008-09-16/entertainment/17157912_1_talent-show-story-prep-school
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/sep/21/entertainment/ca-sarah-bynum21
http://www.mshempelchronicles.com/Audio.htmlPrint Interviews:
http://www.thememagazine.com/stories/sarah-shun-lien-bynum/Video:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/writers/writerdetails.asp?cid=1305370#interview
http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/1124Ms. Hempel Chronicles’ website:
http://www.mshempelchronicles.com/Welcome.html“The Erkling,” a new story:
http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2010/07/05/
100705fi_fiction_bynum
Dennis LehaneThursday, October 7, 2010; 7:30 p.m.
Montante Cultural Center
Dennis Lehane was born and raised in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Eckerd College and a master’s degree in creative writing from Florida International University. He is the author of eight novels, including The New York Times bestsellers Gone, Baby Gone, Mystic River, and Shutter Island, as well as Coronado, a collection of short stories and a play. His most recent novel is The Given Day. He’s taught fiction writing at Harvard and is currently a member the board of the MFA program of Pine Manor College. He and his wife divide their time between Boston and the Gulf Coast of Florida.
Web Resources
Official website -- http://www.dennislehanebooks.com/books/
Video:
On the Late Late Show with Craig FergusonReviews of The Given Day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjjjXnWnkzc
Lehane and Martin Scorsese on Shutter Island
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3XGOJSvjnI
Lehane on Writing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL1HFmgr1nE&feature=related
Lehane discusses The Given Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYpuxAj0Cno&feature=related
http://www.tampabay.com/features/books/article814745.eceInterviews:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/18/AR2008091802887.html
On Mystic River
http://www.harpercollins.com/author/authorExtra.aspx?authorID=17394&isbn13=9780380731855&displayType=bookinterview
On Shutter Island, The Given Day, and writing for television
http://www.collider.com/2010/05/28/dennis-lehane-interview-shutter-island-animal-rescue-the-given-day/
SPRING 2011
Patricia SmithTuesday, February 8, 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Marie Maday Theatre
Patricia Smith grew up in Chicago. She is the author of five collections of poetry, including Teahouse of the Almighty, a National Poetry Series award winner and recipient of the Hurston/Wright Legacy and Paterson Poetry Prize, and Blood Dazzler, her most recent, a National Book Award finalist. She is a Pushcart Prize recipient and a record-setting slam champion who has appeared on HBO’s Def Jam Poetry and performed her work around the world, including Carnegie Hall, the Poets Stage in Stockholm, Rotterdam’s Poetry International Festival, the Aran Islands International Poetry and Prose Festival, the Sorbonne in Paris and on tour in Germany, Austria and Holland.
WEB RESOURCES
Official Website -- http://wordwoman.ws/
Interviews:
http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2008_p_smith_interv.htmlVideo:
http://www.torchpoetry.org/patriciasmith.htm
Reading “Get the Hell Off My Grave”Reviews of Blood Dazzler:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8on9w9REA5s&feature=related
Performing with The Jeff Robinson Trio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bSHIyLk52E&feature=related
Interview at the Hurston Wright Awards 2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHq2A_X8mxc&feature=related
http://poetsquarterly.yolasite.com/winter10_smith.phpNational Book Award Citation for Blood Dazzler:
http://gentlyread.wordpress.com/2009/03/01/patricia-smith-speaks-for-all-of-us-nicolle-elizabeth-reviews-patricia-smiths-blood-dazzler/
http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2008_p_smith.html
Colm TóibínThursday, March 3, 2011, 7 p.m.
Montante Cultural Center
Eighth Annual Hassett Reading
Colm Tóibín was born in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland, and educated at University College Dublin. He is the author of six novels, a collection of stories, and several works of nonfiction. Twice shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Tóibín won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for fiction for The Master. His most recent novel, Brooklyn, was named a Best Book of 2009 by The New Yorker, NPR, and The Times Literary Supplement, and named one a Newsweek’s “Fifty Books for Our Times” and one of The Guardian’s “Fifty Books that Defined the Decade.” Currently he lives in Dublin.
Web Resources
Interviews:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/books-life/7074090/Costa-Book-Awards-Colm-Toibin-interview.htmlAudio:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/apr/26/colm-toibin-brooklyn
“You Must Read This”: On John McGahem’s Amongst Women
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105254948
Video:
Catholic Writers Series, University of Notre DameAudio:
http://www.lndlibrary.org/lndl/ColmToibin/ColmToibin.html
Warwick University Interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmlrO-jiy-Q
Reading from Brooklyn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdA7Dg11AeA
Reviews of Brooklyn:
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/
the_tls/article6190196.ece
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/may/09/colm-toibin-brooklyn
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/books/review/Schillinger-t.html?ref=bookreviews
Biographical and Critical Overview:
http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth6#criticalperspective