Library of America online event with William Kennedy

“O Albany”: Novelist William Kennedy on His Great Cycle of the City

Special thanks to our friends at the Library of America for hosting this online event:

The revered author of Ironweed joins LOA LIVE for a special online discussion with his longtime friend Paul Grondahl.

Online event begins 6 p.m. Monday, June 22.

William Kennedy is to Albany what Joyce is to Dublin and Faulkner to Mississippi, a fictional alchemist who transforms his native place into novels at once deeply evocative of their setting and movingly universal in their human resonances.

In The Albany Trilogy, just out from Library of America, three of Kennedy’s masterpieces — including his beloved novel Ironweed — take readers from the gutter to the statehouse in narratives of brokenness, resilience, and unexpected grace set against the backdrop of one of America’s most storied underdog cities.

Join Kennedy himself, one of only a handful of living authors in the LOA series, and his longtime friend Paul Grondahl, editor of the LOA edition, for a special, intimate, and wide-ranging conversation about craft, Albany as a protagonist, and what’s next for this titan of American letters, at work on his next book at 98 years old.

LOA Live programs are presented free of charge to help readers across the nation and around the globe make meaningful connections with America’s best writing. Programs are made possible by contributions from friends like you, and we hope you'll consider a suggested donation of $15 to support future presentations.

Library of America, a nonprofit organization, champions our nation’s cultural heritage by publishing America’s greatest writing in authoritative new editions and providing resources for readers to explore this rich, living legacy.

There will be a brief Q&A at the end of the program; you will be able to type a question and submit it to the event moderator.

Registration is required to attend this event.

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