The Empire State Center for the Book has decided to postpone its annual event honoring inductees to the New York State Writers Hall of Fame due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The group said the decision was made in consultation with its co-sponsor and collaborator the New York State Writers Institute at the State University at Albany. Organizers say it will be the first time in 11 years the induction ceremony has not taken place. [Read more…] about NYS Writers Hall of Fame Induction Postponed
The New York State Writers Institute and WAMC are joining forces to aid Capital Region’s indie bookstores with a new initiative they’re calling #IndieBookstoreBoost.
The NYS Writers Institute is set to hosts A Tribute to Toni Morrison on Friday, January 24, at 7 pm, at Page Hall on the UAlbany downtown campus, 135 Western Avenue, 
The 2nd Albany Book Festival, hosted by the New York State Writers Institute at the University at Albany, is set for Sat., September 14. Featured authors include National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Oates, Pulitzer Prize winner Eric Foner, Jamaica Kincaid, Dani Shapiro, Madhur Jaffrey, Sylvia Day, Jonathan Santlofer, Will Schwalbe, Harold Holzer.
The NYS Writers Institute is set to welcome filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola for the Albany premiere of a restored and re-edited The Cotton Club, and a conversation with Writers Institute founder William Kennedy, who co-wrote the film’s original screenplay.
The NYS Writers Institute’s Spring 2019 lineup is dedicated to UAlbany’s 175th Anniversary.
On Friday, September 28th, SUNY Board Chairman H. Carl McCall presented the New York State Author and State Poet Awards. These awards were instituted in 1985 when Governor Mario Cuomo and the State Legislature empowered The New York State Writers Institute, located at the University at Albany, to award the Edith Wharton Citation of Merit for Fiction Writers (State Author) and the Walt Whitman Citation of Merit for Poets (State Poet) to authors whose career achievements warranted distinction.
The University of Albany has announced an Albany Book Festival has been set for Friday, September 28th, which will kick off with an installation ceremony for new State Author Colson Whitehead and new State Poet Alicia Ostriker at 7:30 pm. The daylong Book Festival program includes events with featured writers Doris Kearns Goodwin, Gregory Maguire, Walter Mosley, and Jonathan Santlofer.
Author and journalist Russell Shorto, whose new book, Revolution Song: A Story of American Freedom, was released on November 7, will present a reading and discussion on Monday, November 13 at 7 pm in the Huxley Theatre, NYS Museum, Cultural Education Center, in Albany.