8th Annual Albany Book Festival
Schedule
Sat, 27 Sep, 2025 at 10:30 am
UTC-04:00Location
University at Albany, SUNY | Albany, NY
10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, September 27
University at Albany Campus Center West
1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12222
Free and open to the public
This year’s festival features a distinguished lineup of award-winning, bestselling, and regional authors and poets, including Debbie Millman, Roxane Gay, Russell Shorto, Megan Abbott, and John McWhorter, among many others.
In addition to a full day of panel discussions, the festival will include:
• More than 100 local authors and exhibitors
• Open mic readings
• Children’s activities
• Book signings
• Special tributes and performances
Festival week highlights
7 p.m. Tuesday, September 23:
Online Workshop — “Crafting Characters Who Drive Your Plot” with novelist C.M. Waggoner.
Registration required. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/crafting-characters-who-drive-your-plot-with-cm-waggoner-tickets-1657305127249?aff=oddtdtcreator
7:30 p.m. Friday, September 26:
State Author and State Poet Installation Ceremony honoring Min Jin Lee and Kimiko Hahn at the UAlbany Performing Arts Center Recital Hall. More info: https://www.nyswritersinstitute.org/new-york-state-author-state-poet
EVENT SCHEDULE
Saturday, Sept. 27, University at Albany
Campus Center West Auditorium
10:30 a.m. – Conversation with State Author Min Jin Lee and State Poet Kimiko Hahn. Moderated by Paul Grondahl, Opalka Endowed Director, NYS Writers Institute
12:00 p.m. – Becoming New York
Molly Beer (Angelica: For Love and Country in a Time of Revolution) and Russell Shorto (Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America)
1:15 p.m. – Love Letter to a Garden
Debbie Millman (Love Letter to a Garden) and Roxane Gay (Bad Feminist: Essays)
2:30 p.m. – Toni Morrison and America in the 1980s
Paul Elie (The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controversy in the 1980s) and Dana A. Williams (Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer's Legendary Editorship)
4:00 p.m. – Remembering Pierre Joris – Poasis and Beyond: Always the Many
Randall Horton (Dead Weight: A Memoir in Essays) and Urayoán Noel (Transversal)
Campus Center West Boardroom
10:30 a.m. – Masculinity
Jordan Castro (Muscle Man) and Niobe Way (Rebels with a Cause: Reimagining Boys, Ourselves, and Our Culture)
11:45 a.m. – Beauty and Its Discontents
Chantal Fernandez (Selling Sexy: Victoria’s Secret and the Unraveling of an American Icon) and Tempe Denton-Hurst (Fresh Sets: Contemporary Nail Art from Around the World)
1:00 p.m. – Secrets
Honor Moore (A Termination) and Tracy O'Neill (Woman of Interest)
2:15 p.m. – Dad’s Brain
Sandeep Jauhar (My Father's Brain: Life in the Shadow of Alzheimer's) and Natasha Williams (The Parts of Him I Kept: The Gifts of My Father’s Madness)
3:30 p.m. – New Romance
Minita Sanghvi (Happy Endings) and Tamani Wooley (Do You Dare?)
Campus Center Assembly Hall
10:30 a.m. – Pronoun Trouble
John McWhorter (Pronoun Trouble: The Story of Us in Seven Little Words)
11:45 a.m. –Fairy Tales for Adults
Luis Jaramillo (The Witches of El Paso) and Julie Phillips (Bear)
1:00 p.m. – Pyramid Schemes
Megan Abbott (El Dorado Drive) and Bridget Read (Little Bosses Everywhere: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America)
2:15 p.m. – Poets Responding to Taylor Swift
Kristie Frederick Daugherty (Invisible Strings: 113 Poets Respond to the Songs of Taylor Swift), Leah Umansky (Of Tyrant), Samiya Bashir (I Hope This Helps)
3:30 p.m. – New Fiction
Lindsay Hill (Sea of Hooks) and Christopher Shaw (The Manager: A Tale of the Cold War)
Campus Center Multi-Purpose Room
10:30 a.m. – Skribblers/Capital District Writing Project Open Mic
12:00 p.m. – Children’s Author Spotlight: Ta-Sean Murdock (I Am Brave and Bright! Affirmations for Overcoming Bullies)
1:15 p.m. – Bookmaking Presentation: Ambika Sambasivan and Suhani Parikh
6:30 p.m. – Remembering Pierre Joris – Part 2: Reading and Performance
Campus Center Orb Stage
12:30 p.m. – Open Mic with Arch Magazine and Young Writers Project
2:00 p.m. – Hudson Valley Writers Guild Open Mic
3:30 p.m. – WoodstockArts Open Mic
With gratitude
The Albany Book Festival is made possible through generous support from the Advance Albany County Alliance Cultural and Arts Grant Program and the following sponsors:
Premier sponsors
Advance Albany County Alliance
Renaissance Corporation of Albany
Presenting sponsors
Pernille Ægidius Dake
George and Kathleen McNamee
The Opalka Endowed Directorship
Times Union
University Auxiliary Services
Supporting sponsors
Hank Greenberg, Greenberg Traurig, LLP
The Lasch Family
Doris Fischer Malesardi
The Swyer Family Foundation
