Writers Read @ the New York State Summer Writers Institute

The New York State Summer Writers Institute at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs celebrates its 25th year of offering classes to students of fiction, non-fiction prose and poetry throughout the month of July. In addition, the Summer Writers Institute also offers a rich schedule of free readings and discussions by a wide variety of acclaimed guest writers.

All readings begin at 8 p.m. in the Davis Auditorium of Palamountain Hall on the Skidmore campus, except where noted. All of the readings are free and open to the public.

Here’s the complete schedule of readings for the 2011 season:

Monday, July 4: Elizabeth Benedict (novelist, “Almost”) and Joseph O’Neill (novelist, “Netherland,” 2009 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction)

Tuesday, July 5: Mary Gordon (author, “Final Payments,” “Pearl”) and Frank Bidart (poet, “Desire”)

Wednesday, July 6: Michael Ondaatje (Booker Prize, “The English Patient”) and Campbell McGrath (poet, “American Noise”)

Thursday, July 7: Linda Spalding (novelist and memoirist) and Marilynne Robinson (Pulitzer Prize, “Gilead”)

Friday, July 8: Robert Pinsky (former U.S. Poet Laureate)

Monday, July 11: Carolyn Forché (winner, Lamont Poetry Prize; author, “The Angel of History”) and Andrea Barrett (National Book Award, “Ship Fever”)

Tuesday, July 12: Victoria Redel (author, “The Border of Truth”) and Caryl Phillips (novelist, “A Distant Shore,” “The Nature of Blood”)

Wednesday, July 13: Binnie Kirshenbaum (novelist, “The Scenic Route”) and Phillip Lopate (author, “Waterfront”)

Thursday, July 14: Siri Hustvedt (novelist, “What I Loved”) and Paul Auster (author, “The Brooklyn Follies”)

Friday, July 15: William Kennedy (Pulitzer Prize, “Ironweed”; “Roscoe”) and Honor Moore (author, “Red Shoes,” “The Bishop’s Daughter”)

Monday, July 18: Richard Howard (Pulitzer Prize, Poetry, “Talking Cures”) and Francine Prose (novelist, “A Changed Man”)

Tuesday, July 19: Amy Hempel (fictionist, “The Dog of the Marriage”) and Tom Healy (“What the Left Hand Knows”)

Wednesday, July 20: Charles Simic (Former poet laureate, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet) and Danzy Senna (author, “Caucasia”)

Thursday, July 21: Russell Banks (novelist, “The Darling”) and Chase Twichell (poet, “Dog Language”)

Friday, July 22: Joyce Carol Oates (National Book Award, “them”; “We Were the Mulvaneys”)

Monday, July 25: Rick Moody (fictionist, “Demonology”) and James Miller (“Democracy is in the Streets”)

Tuesday, July 26: Howard Norman (novelist, “The Bird Artist”) and Carl Dennis (Pulitzer Prize, “Practical Gods”)

Wednesday, July 27: Mary Gaitskill (author, “Veronica”) and Peg Boyers (poet, “Honey with Tobacco,” “Hard Bread”)

Thursday, July 28: Jamaica Kincaid (author, “Mr. Potter”) and Henri Cole (poet, “Middle Earth”)

Friday, July 29: Clark Blaise (author, “Resident Alien”) and Bharati Mukherjee (National Book Critics Circle Award, “The Middleman”)

MORE REAL GOOD FOR FREE SHOWS, 2011:

Stoptime Louis Armstrong Festival @ various locations, Saratoga Springs (Wednesday, July 6)
Freedom Park, Scotia (7pm on various days)
Monday Night Concerts in the Park @ Veteran’s Memorial Field, Thurman (7pm on Mondays)
Music in the Park @ Schodack Town Park, Schodack (6pm on Tuesdays)
Music in the Park @ Riverfront Park, Rensselaer (6pm on Tuesdays)
Concerts On the Lawn @ the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown (6pm on Tuesdays)
Tuesday Nights in the Park @ Cook Park, Colonie (6:30pm on Tuesdays)
The SCA Summer Concert Series @ the Outdoor Entertainment Center, South Glens Falls (6:30pm on Tuesdays)
Music on Mainstreet @ NBT Bank, Canajoharie (7pm on Tuesdays)
Rockin’ On the River @ the Hedley District Riverfront Parking Lot, River St., Troy (5pm on Wednesdays)
Jazz On Jay @ Jay Street, Schenectady (12noon on Thursdays)
Alive at Five @ Corning Preserve’s Riverfront Park, Albany (5pm on Thursdays)
Concerts in the Park @ Wiswall Park, Ballston Spa (6pm on Thursdays)
Guilderland Performing Arts Center @ Tawasentha Park, Guilderland (7:30pm on Thursdays)
UpBeat on the Roof @ Skidmore College’s Tang Museum, Saratoga Springs (7pm on Fridays)
Improv Records’ Free Fridays @ Shepard Park, Lake George (7pm on Fridays)
Music at Sunset @ Greenport Town Park, Hudson (7pm on Fridays)
Concerts in the Park @ Riverfront Part, Athens (7pm on Fridays)
Canal Square Summer Concert Series @ Canal Square, Cohoes (7pm on Fridays)
Summer Sounds of Salem @ the Main Street Gazebo, Salem (11am on Saturdays)
Performing Arts at the Common @ the Clifton Park Common, Clifton Park (7pm on Sundays)
Skidmore Summer Jazz Institute Concert Series @ Skidmore College’s Zankel Music Center, Saratoga Springs (June 28-July 8)
Jazz at the Lake: Lake George Jazz Weekend @ Shepard Park, Lake George (Saturday-Sunday, September 17-18)