Author interviews

(02/01/12) Our guest is Jaimy Gordon. Her fourth novel, Lord of Misrule, won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2011. Her other work includes the novels Shamp of the City-Solo, She Drove Without Stopping, and Bogeywoman. Pedro Ponce and Ellen Rocco host.

Thursday, February 2, Gordon will give a reading at 7:30 pm in Sykes Common Room on the St. Lawrence University campus in Canton NY, as part of the SLU Writers Series. This event is free and open to the public.

(01/18/12) A new book tells the history of SUNY Potsdam through photographs. Potsdam is the oldest campus in the state university system and the new Arcadia Publishing book includes more than 200 vintage images. The book traces the school's history from its founding in 1816; its teacher training traditions, the Crane School of Music, School of Arts and Sciences, athletics and other activities. Todd Moe talks with the two local authors, Jane Subramanian and Virginia Rose Cayey, about their memories as students at SUNY Potsdam and some of the joys and challenges of sifting through hundreds of historic photos and documents.

(11/30/11) Our guest, Kevin Young, is one a new generation of poets who find inspiration in the bittersweet history of Black America. Among his many books of poetry: Ardency: A Chronicle of the Amistad Rebels, Dear Darkness and For the Confederate Dead. Dale Hobson and Jackie Sauter host, along with guest Sarah Barber.

Kevin Young appears as part of the St. Lawrence University Writers Series. He will give a reading on the St. Lawrence University campus in Canton, NY, Thursday, December 1 at 8 pm in the Sykes Common Room.

(10/25/11) The great-grandnephew of Dracula author Bram Stoker has written a sequel, Dracula - the Un-Dead. Dacre Stoker, a St. Lawrence University graduate, has returned for a presentation tonight in Canton. Todd Moe talks with him about his famous relative and the first authorized sequel to the original Dracula.

(10/13/11) Potsdam writer Evelyn Weissman's first novel, Jairus' Daughter, is a fictional autobiography that began as a series of stories for her children as an answer to questions about her conversion from Judaism to Christianity. She calls it a modern tale of religious conversion. Weissman, like Sara in her book, grew up in a traditional Jewish family and reluctantly followed a spiritual path that led her to Christianity. Todd Moe spoke with her in the backyard of her Potsdam home about the book and her spiritual journey. She'll sign copies of her book at the Brewer Bookstore in Canton this Saturday afternoon (3 pm).

(10/12/11) Yesterday, Brian Mann profiled a new project to expand trails and hiking opportunities in the Champlain Valley. That effort was inspired in part by a 2005 book written by Bill McKibben called "Wandering Home."

It's a travel journal, but also an argument that the Champlain Valley could emerge as one of the most hopeful landscapes in the US.

Brian sat down to talk with McKibben when the book was first published. He argued that the first step is to see the valley as a single place, with its own fascinating and complicated identity.

(10/05/11) Our guest is Ellen Akins, author of the short story collection World Like a Knife, and the novels Home Movie, Little Woman, Public Life and Hometown Brew. Ellen Rocco and Peter Bailey co-host.

Ellen Akins will give a public reading Thursday, October 6, at 8 pm at the Sykes Common Room at St. Lawrence University in Canton, as part of the University's annual writers series.

(09/06/11) Our guest is Andre Dubus III, author of The Cage Keeper and Other Stories, and the novels Bluesman, House of Sand and Fog and The Garden of Last Days. Ellen Rocco and Pedro Ponce host. The author will give a public reading Thursday, September 15, 8 pm at the Sykes Common Room at St. Lawrence University in Canton.

(08/18/11) Journalist and author Bernard Moran has been visiting Lake Placid and the Adirondacks since 1946. He lives the rest of the year in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, close to the setting for his first book, Love and Treachery in Palm Beach.

You can pick up a signed copy of the book and meet Bernard Moran at Bookstore Plus in Lake Placid Saturday at 3 pm. Todd Moe spoke with him about the book, which contains fifteen short stories.

(08/10/11) A new book about Great Camps in the Adirondacks examines how social, economic and cultural forces shaped those historic, rustic homes every bit as much as the architects and contractors. Gladys Montgomery's An Elegant Wilderness: Great Camps and Grand Lodges of the Adirondacks 1855-1935 is filled with archival black and white photographs of log mansions and lavish interiors.

Montgomery is a writer who specializes in architecture and design. She's written numerous articles and several books on old houses and their cultural histories. She spoke with Todd Moe about her book and the Gilded Age rich who built many of the Adirondack Great Camps and traveled north from the city to experience life in the wilderness.