SUNY Adirondack hosts Writers Project, 100 Thousand Poets

Campus celebrates written word with fall events featuring writers, poets, editors

QUEENSBURY, New York  (Sept. 15, 2022) — SUNY Adirondack is proud to announce an exciting lineup of literary events taking place on campus throughout the fall.

Kicking off at 12:40 p.m. Monday, Sept. 19, SUNY Adirondack’s English division offers Writers Project Faculty Showcase in the Visual Arts Gallery in Dearlove Hall. Faculty members including Lale Davidson, Rob Faivre, Peter Fernbach, Khristeena Lute, Krista Rivera and division chair Nancy White will read at the event.

Later this month, the division takes part in 100 Thousand Poets for Change, a global grass-roots movement promoting poetry and social justice. A Student Poetry Open Mic will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22, in the Multipurpose Room of the Residence Hall.

“I’m excited for our SUNY Adirondack community to celebrate 100 Thousand Poets for Change, a global movement that channels the power of poetry to promote peace and justice for people and the planet alike,” said Rivera, who organized the event on campus. “Our events this year will surely be inspiring, and I can't wait for us to gather and send some hope out into the world."

The following afternoon, SUNY Adirondack hosts 100 Thousand Poets for Change Poems for Peace & the Planet, A Celebratory Reading by Notable Poets, at 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23, in the Visual Arts Gallery. Lee A. Gooden, Carol Graser, Lance LeGrys, Lucyna Prostko and published SUNY Adirondack professors White and Kathleen McCoy will read from their works.

All three events are free, open to the public and include light refreshments.

The Writers Project continues in October, with readings by writers Xu Xi reading at 12:40 p.m. Monday, Oct. 17; and Damola Ifaturoti at 12:40 p.m. Dec. 5, in the Visual Arts Gallery. Poet/writer/podcaster Meghan O’Rourke will be featured via Zoom at 12:40 p.m. Monday, Nov. 7. All three events are free and open to the public. 

“SUNY Adirondack is one of only a few community colleges in New York to offer a reading series,” said McCoy, series organizer. “It's important for our creative writing and liberal arts students to hear from contemporary writers, and it offers the entire community a chance to hear from nationally known writers with a wide variety of backgrounds.”

For more information about Writers Project events, contact McCoy at mccoyk@sunyacc.edu. For more information about 100 Thousand Poets for Change, contact Krista Rivera at riverak@sunyacc.edu.

About the writers

• Gooden is a comics writer, poet, actor, director, playwright and freelance journalist. He reviews books, music, art, theater and movies in the Capital Region.
• Graser is author of "The Wild Twist of Their Stems,” and hosts a monthly poetry reading series at Saratoga’s legendary Caffè Lena. She has read her works at various events and venues around New York. She runs poetry workshops for teens and at-risk youth.
• Ifaturoti is a book publishing professional with more than three decades of experience. He has worked with leading publishing companies, worked on a freelance basis and runs an independent small press. Among the titles he has worked on are scholarly works, self development, educational, personal and institutional biographies, literary works, adult fiction, drama and poetry.
• Le Grys is a native of Cambridge (Washington County) who earned a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College and has since worked as a Latin teacher and librarian. His work has appeared in many publications, including America, Caveat Lector, The Naugatuck River Review, The Lullwater Review, The Licking River Review, Knock and The Southern Humanities Review. His poetry collection, “Views from an Outbuilding,” is available from Clare Songbirds Publishing House.
• McCoy is a poet and educator. She earned a Ph.D. from University of Missouri. She has earned multiple prizes for her works, including a University of Missouri Poetry Fellowship, a commendation from the Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Award, and recognition from Seamus Heaney Poetry Centre Fulbright Award and Discovery/The Nation Award, among others. Her published works include “Ekphrasis: Art into Words,” “Ringing the Changes,” “Green and Burning” and “More Water Than Words.”
• O’Rourke is a New York Times best-selling poet, author, editor and podcaster who struggles with chronic illness. She worked at The New Yorker, Slate and The Paris Review. Her writing has earned awards including fellowships at Guggenheim, Radcliffe and Lannan Literary, as well as the Union League Prize for Poetry from the Poetry Foundation. Her works include “The Invisible Kingdom” and “The Long Goodbye.”
• Prostko grew up in Poland, immigrating to the United States when she was 19 years old. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Hunter College and a master’s degree from New York University, where she was awarded The New York Times Fellowship. Her works — in Polish and English — are included in The Bitter Oleander, Fugue, Washington Square, Painted Bride Quarterly, Ellipsis, Quiddity, Five Points and other literary magazines. Her collection, “Infinite Beginnings,” was winner of the Bright Hill Press Poetry Book Competition by Joan Larkin. She teaches literature and creative writing at Queensbury High School and is pursuing a Ph.D. in English at SUNY Albany.
• White is a poet and educator whose first book, “Sun, Moon, Salt,” won the Washington Prize for poetry. She has published two more collections, “Detour” and “Ask Again Later.” Her poems appear in many journals, including Antioch Review, Black Warrior Review, Cincinnati Review, Diner, FIELD, The Journal, Massachusetts Review, Nimrod, Ploughshares, Poet Lore, Rattle, Seneca Review, Sojourners and Washington Square. She is president and co-editor-in-chief at The Word Works in Washington, D.C.
• Xu Xi is a Hong Kong native who writes fiction and nonfiction. The New York resident has published 14 books, including five novels, one memoir, and eight collections of essays and stories. She has edited four anthologies of Hong Kong writing in English and is co-founder of Authors at Large and Mongrel Writers Residence.