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Program

Book Festival Events 

September 26, 2026, 10:30 am to 5:00 pm 

Featured Authors

Location:

  • Campus Center West
    Auditorium, Boardroom
    Multi-Purpose Room
    The Orb Stage 

  • Campus Center Assembly Hall

Author Signings

Location:

  • Campus Center West Great Hall

  • Campus Center Fireside Lounge

Local Authors and Publishers

Location:

  • Campus Center West Great Hall

  • Campus Center Ballroom

Schedule

Republic Records Music Hall (CC West Auditorium)
Book Signings to immediately follow each author event in the Great Hall

10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Memoirs: Kelly McMasters and Keith McNally. Moderated by Paul Grondahl, NYSWI Director

12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. 
Bad Girls: Carol Gilligan and Gish Jen. Moderated by Marion Roach Smith, memoir coach and editor

1:15 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.

Iran, Iranians, & Iranian-Americans: Amir Ahmadi Arian, Arash Azizi, and Porochista Khakpour

Moderated by Mark Koplik, NYSWI Assistant Director

2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. 

Richard Brookhiser “The Marquis de Lafayette”
Moderated by Richard Fogarty 

3:45 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.

Life on a Little-Known Planet: Elizabeth Kolbert. Moderated by Judith Enck, former EPA Regional Administrator

Campus Center West Boardroom 
Book Signings to immediately follow each author event in the Great Hall

10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Irish and Irish American Fiction: Terry Golway and Megan Nolan

Moderated by Margaret Lasch Carroll, PhD, Member of the Board of Trustees for the Irish American Heritage Museum, Albany

11:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.

Repairing the Broken Food System: Nancy Matsumoto and Ashanti Williams

Moderated by Phat Chiem, co-founder of The518.com

1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Audiobooks: Kristin Lang. Moderated by Paul Grondahl, NYSWI Director

2:15 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.

Heads Above Water – Survival Memoirs: Cara Benson and Virginia Eubanks

Moderated by Christy O’Callaghan-Leue, UAlbany PhD Student, English Department

3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Cats & Dogs: Eva Lesko Natiello and Rebecca van Laer

Moderated by Rae Muhlstock, Teaching Professor, UAlbany’s Writing & Critical Inquiry Program

Campus Center Assembly Hall 
Book Signings to immediately follow each author event in the Fireside Lounge

10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Family & Other Disasters: Bindu Bansinath and Betsy Lerner

Moderated by Stacey Rattner, Library Media Specialist, Castleton Elementary School

11:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.

SUNY Press History Panel: Myra B. Young Armstead, Albert Rosenblatt and Sandra Weber

Moderated by Bruce Dearstyne, historian and author

1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Toni Morrison: Namwali Serpell

Moderated by Janell Hobson, Professor, Director of Graduate Studies, Collins Fellow, UAlbany’s Department of Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies

2:15 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.

Trans Athletes: Katie Barnes and Brianne Brinker

Moderated by Tandra LaGrone, Chief Executive Officer of In Our Own Voices, Inc.

3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

Thrillers: John Katzenbach and Canwen Xu

Moderated by Heather Murphy, Program Associate, The Institute for Traffic Safety Management & Research

The Orb Stage

Join UAlbany students and local/regional writers & poets for open mic readings on The Orb Stage

12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
UAlbany Student Open Mic Reading
Featuring a collection of student writers from ARCH and the Young Writers Project program

Multi-Purpose Room

More information to come!

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