Director's greeting: Our Spring 2025 Season

"Our forthcoming spring lineup will underscore our common humanity."

As I enter my eighth year directing the Writers Institute, for the first time I feel myself at a loss for words.

It is hard to know what to say when there is so much war, chaos and devastation at loose in the world; when seething anger can boil up over the most innocuous comment; and when we live in a moment of competing grievances with an impulse to attack each other across divides.

And then I remember what we have created collectively at the Writers Institute over the course of 42 years. This caring community of writers and readers approach contentious ideas with grace and empathy, and a desire to bridge differences with civility. We truly believe there is more that unites us than divides us. We find common ground in a poem that causes a lump to rise in our throats; marvel at a well-crafted paragraph that makes us think differently about a historical event; and are mesmerized when a literary novelist reads a lyrical passage with language that seems to rise off the page.

Our founding father, William Kennedy, put it best: “Literary conversation is the best conversation.”

I am reminded, too, of the words of recent visiting authors, whom we quoted on the Writers Institute’s holiday card. They capture the essence of what we do. Edwidge Danticat said: “We tell stories because we are human. And it is part of our humanity to want to speak to one another.”

Angie Cruz, referencing the late Toni Morrison, an early Writers Institute collaborator and University at Albany faculty member, said: “I also think about what Toni Morrison said about the difference between fact and truth, and what a novel can do. History can tell us a fact but fiction, in Morrison’s words, ‘discloses truth.’ ”

Our forthcoming spring lineup will underscore our common humanity. It is a literary feast of diverse voices, fresh perspectives, and a mix of emerging writers and acclaimed, award-winning authors. A few highlights:

• Jay McInerney (Jan. 29);

• Rigoberto González (Feb. 11);

• Nathan Grayson (March 5);

• Max Boot & former Gov. George Pataki (March 11);

• Laila Lalami (March 25);

• 5th annual Albany Film Festival (March 29);

• Lynn Nottage (March 31);

• Richard Price (April 1);

• Brenda Wineapple (April 23);

• and Selected Shorts (May 3).

[Download our Spring 2025 season brochure. (PDF)]

As we welcome the New Year, let us do so with an open heart and a good book.

Paul Grondahl

Opalka Endowed Director, NYS Writers Institute