Happy 98th Birthday, William Kennedy!

William Kennedy, our founder, our north star, celebrates his 98th birthday today. Congratulations! His son Brendan shared this photo from a gathering at the family home yesterday.

"We had to drag him away from his desk to get him to the dinner table last night," Brendan said.

Here is a collection of birthday wishes shared from Bill's friends and fans across the country.

Bill Kennedy was the first person I met on the University at Albany campus in 1981 and he has been a mentor, an inspiration, and a source of encouragement for myself and many writers. As the founding father and guiding light of the NYSWI, Bill continues to remind us that literary conversation is the best conversation in the world.

Thank you for your grace and your example of how to be a powerful advocate for the transformative power of literature. Happy Birthday, Bill. You are amazing at 98 and every age. Cheers!

Paul Grondahl

*****

Warmest and happiest birthday greetings for our “Bootlegger of the Soul, a mythic creature made of words and wit and wild deeds and boundless memory.” We love you!

Suzanne and George

*****

Happy Birthday, Bill! Thanks for your many gifts to the world, including the NYS Writers Institute.

Mark Koplik, NYS Writers Institute

*****

When I think of you, Bill, it is always to recall your great generosity to all whom you encounter. I was inspired while working with you on O Albany! at the Albany Institute's McKinney Library to pursue my graduate degree in library science, and well, here we are all these years later. You have been especially lavish in your appreciation of librarians, and for that and so many other things, I am grateful. Happiest of birthdays to you!

Suzanne Roberson

*****

Dearest Bill,

Thank you for your verve.

Thank you for your lines that swerve unexpectedly, intensely insightfully, and teeter otherworldly, while keeping us on track.

Thank you for your joy, oh birthday boy.

Happy every day, tuja!

Keep going!

Heaps of happy-dappy cheers,

Pernille

*****

Happy Birthday Bill! Hope you have the most inspiring, wonderful and word filled day! Chin Chin and Cheers!

Love,

Janet Topal, your most dedicated art person

*****

Hello Bill. Sending warm birthday wishes as you celebrate 98 years. You continue to be an absolute inspiration, and your legendary status only grows stronger with time. Thank you for the unforgettable stories and characters you’ve given us, and for reminding us what great writing can mean to a community.

Your creativity, generosity, and unflagging spirit continue to inspire us all.

NYS Senator Pat Fahy

*****

William Shakespeare once said, "Some are born great. Some achieve greatness.  Some have greatness thrust upon them."

You were born great, Mr. Kennedy. Happy Birthday!  Thank you for being an exemplar for us all. You have inspired us "to let our reach exceed our grasp" (Browning).

A million thanks, and more, for being a blessing in our world!

Leonard A. Slade, Jr.

 *****

Happy Birthday Bill! You continue to be an absolute inspiration. Your legendary status only grows stronger with age. Thank you for

Dear Bill - happy birthday to the man who helped to put Albany and its history on the map and put a spotlight on our fair city.  All best wishes from your friends at Historic Albany Foundation

Pam Howard

*****

Bill is one of the great American writers and the embodiment of wit and charm and writerly discipline. That he's lived to be 98 is a tribute to the powers -- whatever they may be -- that govern, or fail to govern, our lives.

Though Bill won't think it adequate, we raise a glass of properly chilled Saratoga Water to celebrate the man and give thanks for the decades of his company and inspiration.

Love from Bob and Peg Boyers

*****

Happy 98th birthday to William Kennedy, the powerhouse reporter and novelist whose imaginative map of the place I call home has been studied by readers around the planet.

Casey Seiler

*****

I want to send along my Happy Birthday wishes to William Kennedy and thank him for all the joy he had given so many of us through his writings and talks and being such an amazing part of this Albany community.❤️

Looking forward to what he has planned to do next! 

Sincerely,

Margaret Lamar King, Albany NY

*****

Our first encounter was at El Mundo in 1979. I was a high school student intern from NY. Our next encounter was when I was privileged to be one of your students at SUNY Albany.

Fast forward ten years and I was your flight attendant from LA to NY.

I'd like to thank you for being a mentor and an interesting author. I wish for you good health, and contentment knowing you have brought great joy and strength to so many of us.

Happy Birthday,

Andrea Datkowsky 

*****

Greetings Bill,

Warm birthday wishes from a fellow North Albany kid and proud Writers Institute volunteer. I have a feeling Sacred Heart’s longtime pastor, Monsignor Gaffigan, would be smiling.

As the son of your childhood friend Margaret Robinson and the nephew of “Red” — Edward Robinson, with that unmistakable carrot top and known to his Augustinian brothers as Rusty — I’m reaching out with greetings shaped by family, faith, and the old neighborhood. If memory serves, Edward was Red One and you were Red Two — a bit of North Albany shorthand, the kind of thing only the Limericks could make permanent.

Everyone on the Emmet Street block joins me in wishing you a very happy birthday, with many more good years to come. I also hope that, along with my pals Paul and Mike, we’ll finally make it over to the residence and get that portrait done. Just say the word, and we’ll be there.

Until then, I raise my glass to you in salute — Francis Phelan–style — filled with the kind of Ironweed whiskey that could strip paint and summon ghosts.

All the best and warm wishes,

Mark Sharer

*****

I remember your reading from your work-in-progress at Skidmore three years ago like it was yesterday – “Cap-Gun Annie!” I hope I get to read the novel one day.

I’m inspired by your career and unending curiosity for the arts. It’s how life should be lived!

Happy Birthday!

Jack Huber

*****

Mr. Kennedy-

My brush with fame [meeting you] came in 1981 when I was enrolled in a journalism class at SUNY. Four years after graduating from nursing school, and inspired by reading/watching coverage of the Iran hostages, I wanted to be a journalist, and signed up for some evening classes.

Fred LeBrun was our teacher, and one evening, he asked you to speak to our class. Fred gave us an assignment to write a profile about an interesting character. My aunt's dad was just that! Michael Flanagan was quick with a joke and could play a song on his banjo about any subject under the sun. My classmates and I didn't know that Fred was going to ask you to review our work, and I was just delighted when he told me that you thought my story was well written! What an ego boost! 

Well, I never had that big writing career, and I have had a nursing license all these years. My clinical work turned to risk management and patient safety, and I do some writing in those areas. Writing has always proven useful.

Thank you for inspiring me and generations of “real” writers. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

With gratitude, Nancy Connelly

*****

Happy Birthday, Bill! 

98, now that’s a milestone!

I am Jules Feiffer’s widow and I know that when we moved up here three years ago, he very much wanted to visit you in Albany. 

Unfortunately, he became too ill too quickly, and we lost him a year ago. However, I know he would have wanted me to tell you what a fan of yours he was, how much he liked you (I don’t know how many times you met, but he told me that you had met) and that nothing would have made him happier than to take you up on your offer for a swim in your pool. 

I wish you a brilliant, joyous and peaceful 98th year filled with creativity and accolades. I’ve been a fan of yours for quite a long time myself.

All the best,

JZ Holden

*****

The life you are living is your greatest story yet.

Stay zesty, Mr. Kennedy, and please have the loveliest of birthdays!

With all good wishes,

Julie Phillips

P.S. And thank you so much for the NYSWI. 

*****

Dear Mr. Kennedy -

Thank you for all you have contributed to not only the world of writing, but to Albany, New York. You are a state and national treasure. Happy 98th to you!

- Stacey Morris, Saratoga Springs

*****

Happy Birthday Bill! Here's to you for keeping Albany the literary epicenter of Upstate New York! Best Wishes, Aaron Puerzer

*****

Dear Bill,

Happy birthday! It was true many years ago, and also now: when I walk in Albany, photographing and sightseeing, I see the people and the city as it was, portrayed in your books. Not ghosts but living people, buildings, neighborhoods, streetcorners, politics. It’s not an overlay, instead an integration of old and new. Many old cities must also have this phenomenon, but not many, if any, old cities have it because of a writer who can create the conditions, and paint the landscape, and conjure the essences, and count the beating hearts, the way you do. You’ve changed Albany for me forever. Please keep doing that.

Thank you!

📖

Jeanne Finley  

*****

This man lights up a room wherever he goes! Happy Birthday Bill!

Susan Pedo, Albany County Legislator

*****

Bill Kennedy has been a presence in my writing life for nearly half a century. I grew up hearing his stories, reading his books, and meeting him across the breath of my life. I probably first met him in my teens, shared family tales of Legs Diamond, and then again at various times and places.

Happy Birthday to an Albany legend.

Bill Howard. 

*****

Happy birthday Bill!

Jeff Levitt 

*****

Happy Birthday, Mr. Kennedy. My father, Walter McCarroll, gifted me this poster more than 40 years ago when I moved to California. We are all huge William Kennedy fans in the McCarroll family. I hope you continue to find joy in writing and sharing your wit and wisdom with the world!

Kate McCarroll Moore, Winner of the 2023 Andrew Glaze Poetry Prize

*****

A Capital District treasure. Loved, when I lived there, that he would come to Writer's Institute events at Page Hall and sit with his wife up front as encouragement to the speakers yet always approachable to the public. Keep going Mr. Kennedy...you inspire.  

Susan Fiehl

*****

HBTY, Bill, May your day be as wonderful as your words are to me.

Catherine Sheridan

*****

 Dear Bill,

Sending you warmest wishes from all of us at The Museum of Political Corruption on your 98^th birthday!

We’re deeply grateful for your work, which has long been a mirror for Albany—its people, its politics, and its soul, and for your support of our museum and its mission.

Wishing you a wonderful birthday and continued health, creativity, and inspiration!

Best regards,

Bruce    

*****

As a young reader in 1983, William Kennedy's 'Ironweed' brought the mystic undercurrents in our Irish American family into the light.  My grandmother who had the "gift" would only say that it is a blessing and a curse.  

William Kennedy expressed his mystic gift by writing books which brought blessings to his readers.  Many readers, like myself, consider him an Anan Cara (soul friend).

May God bless you, William Kennedy, and shine HIs Light upon you on your 98th birthday.  Your inner light shines so brightly to bless all here.  

Roslyn Christie

*****

Happy Birthday Mr. Kennedy.  You are Albany’s hero and I want to send my gratitude and joyful Birthday wishes.

Thank you for using the power of your words, woven with your journalistic skills, to memorialize our hometown’s societal, cultural and political history. We are all eternally grateful for your outstanding work and love for our home City. 

I hope to some day thank you in person but I know my Brother did so many years ago - you signed his copy of your novel. We are the great grandchildren of Mary Corbett, the youngest of the Corbett sisters that married “Albany Jim” Brady and Bunt Dunn. Thus, Brady and Dunn were brothers by marriage.

I hope you know how much Albany loves you.  And may all the joy you have spread with your words and work come back to you with all the “feels.”

All my best wishes and respects, Mr. Kennedy. You are a gem. 

Judy Abbott

*****

Happy birthday. Bill, and thank you for your writing, your wisdom, and your example—which I have followed to the extent of maybe channeling it a little bit too directly!

You have made of Albany another Macondo, another Dublin, another Yoknapatawpha. The work will live on and shape how we view the city, the past, and the world. 

With gratitude and affection,

Chris Shaw

*****

Happy Birthday, Bill Kennedy! I have been reading your marvelous novel IRONWEED with my Fordham University students for two decades in my Catholic Literature Seminars. Year after year, they find it compelling, witty, wise, and deeply moving. Thank you for the gift of your words and the worlds they create!

BTW, it was an honor to meet you and Dana when you received your honorary degree at Manhattan College a number of years ago. We spent the afternoon talking about our (un) common love of Sinatra, and you were kind enough to accept a copy of my book dedicated to Frank!

Angela Alaimo O'Donnell

*****

Happy Birthday Bill! Thank you for bringing to life a cadre of my Irish relatives- the hard working, large family, laborer type…and the entertaining - “every family had a few” - reprobates. You’re incredible writer and storyteller!

Michael Tucker

*****

Bill, congratulations on your birthday! I was Tom Smith’s former student and friend, we used to meet up at the Institute’s readings.

William Jasper

*****

Happy Birthday! Love your books! Not an Albany native, but I do love local history. Your writing inspired me to write about familiar things. Your style and attention to details bring your characters to life and put the reader in the story.

You are an American master! Thank you for sharing your gift of words with the world.

Enjoy your birthday!🎂🥳

Kathy Schongar

*****

Happy birthday to a legend! 🎉

Hon Go

*****

Happy Birthday

Ann McCullen-Hess

*****

Happy birthday to you Bill , thank you for serving us a great legacy, and making a huge difference in the world of writing and  in the movie industry, the cotton club and iron wead were terrific.

God bless you, with long life and good health.

Takis J Dikas

*****

Happy Birthday and many more from a fan and friend from many years at the Fort Orange Club. Gratefully yours @ James Owens Jr.

*****

Our home includes a historian and a bookseller, and ALL of your books. Happy Birthday, Mr. Kennedy, and thank you for your work!

Cheryl Krocker McKeon

*****

Happy Birthday Bill. You are a treasure!!!

Laurie Shanks

*****

Iconic 🤩

Susan Kayne

*****

Wow, that’s great. I read most of his books, certainly the 3 mentioned.

Robert LaVeyra

*****

Happy birthday from an old SUNYA doctoral student in English Dept.

Lawrence Van Heusen

*****

The experience of playing your sister, Sarah, was a highlight of my life. Happy 98th Birthday, Bill❣️

Sue Caputo

*****

Thank you for a lifetime of wonderful writing and stories of a very special place.

Happy Birthday William Kennedy. William Brennan

*****

Happy birthday, Bill

Nancy Klepsch

*****

Happy Birthday

Mary-Louise Meyer

*****

Thanks for all that you have done. Happy Birthday!

Marggie Skinner

*****

Wonderful

Paul O'Brien

*****

Heroic!

BJ Costello

*****

Happy Birthday, Professor Kennedy! 🎂🥃🍺 From your student in journalistic writing, State University of NY at Albany 1975🙏

George Romanation 

*****

Happiest of birthdays to Bill from all of us up in Saratoga and at Salmagundi Magazine.

Marc Woodworth

*****

A requirement while taking English during my Suny@Albany days was reading Kennedy's books...it was when Tom Smith was still teaching - he was a longtime friend of Kennedy's and helped started the Writer's Institute...Professor Smith invited Kennedy in one evening to talk briefly...I still have his signature in my notebook from that evening...was meant to be...I only lasted a semester there! Happy 98th Mr. Kennedy...miss seeing you on Dove St! So many fond memories of Albany not long ago! It's okay to remember...

Gerald Plante

*****

Happy birthday to one of the best writers I have ever read.

 Dan Barton

*****

Happy Birthday

Cynthia Urbach

*****

Happy birthday to the pride of Albany.

Kathleen Vermette Rosch

*****

Bill is a national treasure and a wonderful gentleman. Last time I saw him, he gallantly bent over to kiss my hand.

Julie Lomoe

*****

The man, the icon, the writer! Happy Birthday. You inspire us all.

Robb Smith

*****

Best wishes on your birthday. Thank you for all you’ve done for the literary community for generations.

Last night I celebrated a birthday dinner with my daughter Julia, who turned 28. When I asked her what she thought about you turning 98, she said, in classic Julia understatement, “good job.”

Mike Huber, NYS Writers Institute

*****

Sending wishes for the happiest of birthdays as you celebrate your 98th!

All these years later, I still, fondly recall the day we met.

It was the day you won the Pulitzer Prize.

Beaming, as you answered your door, pridefully telling me that you had a grandchild born that day. It was almost as if the PULITZER placed second to a healthy baby girl.

You answer the door, as if you were welcoming an old friend, as though we knew each other for years. Every interaction ever since, has been the same. I truly appreciate it.

I’m sure you don’t remember, but, you received many congratulatory calls, that long ago day. For one, you paused to answer while we were talking & I was photographing you. You picked up a freaking Mickey Mouse phone to accept congratulations from a well wisher. I may have only been a kid then, but I certainly wasn’t going to miss the shot, committing to film an image of a freaking Pulitzer Prize winner in literature, speaking on a Mickey Mouse phone!

Every in personal & professional interaction ever since has been an absolute pleasure. I enjoy our insightful talks & relish, the presence of a consummate gentleman.

Brendan, I am a little concerned about you, pulling him away from his writing. I hope you didn’t break his train of thought & deprive the world of another great masterpiece! LOL 🙂🤣

Please know, each time I run into one of your family members or a mutual friend I ask about you. The response outlines how sharp you remain, & your continued dedication to your craft. I hope I am fortunate enough to see you again soon. Meanwhile, give my best to Mickey...

LUANNE M. FERRIS [former Times Union photographer]

PHOTOGRAPHER

*****

Happy Birthday Mr Kennedy… so many memories and all the Authors you brought to Mansion Hill inn over the years….Norman Mailer, Richard Selzer, Helen Caldecott…I still see her books with the Caldecott Prize embossed on her book jackets…I have a great picture somewhere of you and your bride sitting in our dining room at table W1 smiling! Thank you for your support!

Steve Stofelano Jr.

*****

 Bill Coulter

Happy Birthday! You and my Dad went to Siena together. I had the pleasure to work on IRONWEED. You are a true inspiration and a generous soul.

*****

Beverly M Elander

Years ago I had the pleasure of serving you and some of your entourage at the My Way Cafe in Malta New York. I do not remember the occasion for your dinner celebration but I do remember feeling quite special knowing that you were under our roof and enjoying our food. Happy birthday Sir William!

*****

Happy Birthday Mr. Kennedy. Thank you for giving us the NYS Writer’s Institute, it is such a treasure, as are you.

Christine Pelcher Wilber

*****

I’ve got his books on my shelf and the Writers Tears in my cupboard!

Dawn Marar

*****

Happy 98th, Bill. I want your life.

Gary Hahn

*****

Amazing. If it is possible please give him my very best. I so valued his advice and kindness as a cub reporter.

Lara Jakes

*****

Wishing you a very happy birthday! I had the pleasure of meeting you in 2009 at the Sand Lake Center for the Arts and you were gracious enough to let me do a piece on you for the Troy Record. My dad was an English professor at HVCC and encouraged me to connect with you, I'm glad I got the chance - being able to connect with you has been one of the greatest writing adventures for me! xo Jule

Julie Cushine-Rigg

*****

Congrats, Mr Kennedy!

I am the grandson of Red Bottari whom you interviewed and cited in your novel, Legs. I still have the book you inscribed for him. God bless you with many more productive years. Good health to you!

Mike Hanson

****

Charmaine Cantrell Ushkow

Happy I got to sing happy birthday to you a few years back with my times union buddies