A Sunday conversation: Author and poet Victoria Redel
- NYS Writers Institute
- Dec 9
- 2 min read
“Victoria Redel masterfully evokes the rich period of Golden Age Amsterdam and the centrality of its artists... It is spellbinding, wonderfully atmospheric, and impossible to forget.”
— Sarah Jessica Parker
Step into 17th-century Amsterdam without leaving Albany.
Join us Sunday morning as Paul Grondahl moderates a conversation with poet and novelist Victoria Redel, whose new book I Am You offers a luminous exploration of art, resilience, and the women who refused to stay in the shadows.
In addition to the reading and conversation, enjoy a complimentary grazing table inspired by the fruits, breads, and delicacies immortalized by the Dutch Masters in their still-life paintings.
Victoria Redel in conversation with Paul Grondahl
11 a.m. Sunday, December 14
Nine Pin Cider
929 Broadway, Albany
Books will be for sale at the event.
Free and open to the public. No registration required.
About the book
In 17th century Amsterdam, eight-year old Gerta Pieters is forced to disguise herself as a boy and sent to work for a genteel Dutch family. When their brilliant and beautiful daughter Maria sees through Gerta’s ruse, she insists that Gerta accompany her to Amsterdam and help her enter the elite, male-dominated art world.
While Maria rises in the ranks of society as a painting prodigy, Gerta makes herself invaluable in every way: confidante, muse, lover. But as Gerta steps into her own talents, their relationship fractures into a complex web of obsession and rivalry — and the secrets they keep threaten to unravel everything. A mesmerizing historical novel, I Am You is a meditation on gender, an ode to artistic creation, and an unforgettable love story that reimagines the life of renowned still life painter Maria van Oosterwijck during the Dutch Golden Age.
About the author
Victoria Redel is a first-generation American author of five books of poetry and six books of fiction.
Her debut novel, Loverboy, was named a best book of the year by the Los Angeles Times and won the S. Mariela Gable Award from Graywolf Press and the Forward Silver Literary Fiction Prize. Loverboy (2001) was adapted for feature film directed by Kevin Bacon.
Her work has been widely anthologized, awarded, and translated in 10 languages.