Frank McCourt, the Pulitzer prize-winning author of Angela Ashes, will speak at the Ossining Public Library May 22 as part of the library's Festival of Writers and Readers, a series of five events in May and June.
"The festival is designed to celebrate the art of writing, the joy of reading, and the new library building," said Bob Minzesheimer, the president of the library's Board of Trustees, who proposed the idea when the building was still under construction.
"It's a belated thank you gift to the taxpayers who made the new library possible, as well as a celebration of our new building and our staff," he said. The $16 million library opened in March 2007.
The festival, announced at the start of National Library Week, is planned as a series of not-to-be-missed literary conversations on topics that range from immigration to baseball, and will feature an insiders' discussion on "How a book becomes a book" on June 16.
Other authors appearing as part of the festival include New York Times sports columnist George Vecsey (May 16), Elizabeth Samet who's written an award-winning memoir about teaching literature at West Point (June 4) and Jason Riley, a Wall Street Journal editorial writer, who will discuss his new book, "Let Them In: The Case For Open Borders" (May 12).
Riley is an Ossining resident, as are several other journalists who will serve as moderators and interviewers for the events.
A conversation with Jason Riley, author of a new book, "Let Them In: The Case for Open Borders: Six Myths About Immigration and Why They Are Wrong," to be published by Gotham Books May 15.
Riley, an Ossining resident, is a member of the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal, and appears regularly on "The Journal Editorial Report" on Fox News. He will be interviewed by Peter Boyer, an Ossining resident, who's a staff writer for The New Yorker and author of "Who Killed CBS?"
A conversation with George Vecsey, sports columnist for The New York Times, about his varied career that includes co-writing Coal Miner's Daughter, Loretta Lynn's autobiography, that was turned into a movie. Vecsey has written several sports books, including Baseball: A History of America's Favorite Game, and Joy in Mudville about the New York Mets, and has co-authored books with tennis star Martina Navratilova and singers Barbara Mandrell and Lorrie Morgan.
A conversation with Frank McCourt, whose memoir about growing up poor in Ireland, Angela Ashes, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1997, and was turned into a major motion picture. McCourt, a former New York City high school English teacher, has written two bestselling sequels, 'Tis, and Teacher Man, and an illustrated children's book, Angela and the Baby Jesus\. He will be interviewed by Ray O'Hanlon, an Ossining resident, a senior editor at The Irish Echo, and author of The New Irish Americans.
PLEASE NOTE: Tickets will be required for this event. Tickets will be issued to Ossining Public Library cardholders only. Only two tickets will be given out per adult cardholder. Tickets will be available starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 17th at the 2nd floor Reference Desk.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 7:30 pm.
A conversation with Elizabeth Samet, author of "Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point," published last fall by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
Professor Samet received her B.A. from Harvard, her Ph.D. in English literature from Yale and has been an English professor at West Point for ten years. Her memoir was serialized in The New York Times Magazine and won Barnes & Nobel's "Discover Great New Writers" award. She will be interviewed by Naomi Schaefer Riley, an Ossining resident and an editor at the Wall Street Journal, where she wrote about Samet and her book. Riley is the author of "God on the Quad: How Religious Colleges and the Missionary Generation Are Changing America."
A panel discussion about publishing with publishing insiders — author Marilyn Johnson, publisher Michael Pietsch, literary agent Richard Pine and book critic Janet Maslin.
Johnson, a Briarcliff resident, is author of "The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries," and is working on a book about libraries. Pietsch, an Ossining resident, is publisher and the former editor-in-chief of Little, Brown where he has worked with a wide range of authors including Alice Sebold, Walter Mosley, James Patterson and Anita Shreve. Pine, a Briarcliff resident, is a literary agent with InkWell Management whose clients include James Patterson, Susan Orlean, Andrew Weil and Arianna Huffington. Maslin, who lives in Pleasantville, is a book critic and former movie critic for The New York Times, as well as president of the board of the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville. The panel will be moderated by Minzesheimer, a book reviewer and reporter for USA Today.
All events are free. Books and refreshments will be available for sale at each of the events which will be held in the theater on the library's lower level.