Center for the literary arts in New York State
Telling the Truth in a Post-Truth World
5:30 p.m. Friday, November 14, 2025
Page Hall, University at Albany Downtown Campus
135 Western Avenue
Albany NY 12203
Free and open to the public. See map
Join us for two panel conversations, “Rethinking American Politics,” about finding common ground in an age of polarization, and “Standing on Principles,” about reviving the foundational principles of American society, both moral and legal.
Rethinking American Politics - 5:30 p.m.
Moderator: Paul Grondahl is the Opalka Endowed Director of the NYS Writers Institute. He is an author and an award-winning journalist who worked at the Albany Times Union for 32 years, starting in 1984, and he continues to write a weekly column for the newspaper.
Grondahl's books include Mayor Corning: Albany Icon, Albany Enigma (1997), I Rose like a Rocket: The Political Education of Theodore Roosevelt (2004), and with Suzanne Lance, co-edited Bootlegger of the Soul: The Literary Legacy of William Kennedy (2018).
Lydia Polgreen is an Opinion columnist for the New York Times who writes about American and international culture and politics, with an emphasis on human rights, migration, queer lives and democracy.
She reported for the Albany Times Union early in her career, and previously served as editor in chief of HuffPost, editorial director of NY Times Global, and New York Times correspondent in West Africa, South Africa and South Asia.
Zephyr Teachout is an American attorney, author, political candidate, and professor of law specializing in democracy and antitrust at Fordham University. In 2014, Teachout ran for the Democratic Party nomination for governor of New York and lost to incumbent governor Andrew Cuomo, receiving 33% of the primary vote.
In 2018, Teachout was a candidate for New York State attorney general in the 2018 elections but lost the Democratic nomination to Letitia James. Her candidacy was endorsed by The New York Times.
Standing on Principles - 7 p.m.
Moderator: Dan Clark is the author of the Capitol Confidential newsletter and reports on New York government and policy for the Albany Times Union. Clark has covered New York government, politics and policy for more than a decade.
Before joining the Times Union in 2024, Clark was the managing editor of WMHT’s “New York NOW” and had stints at PolitiFact, the New York Law Journal and Capitol Tonight. You can reach him at Dan.Clark@timesunion.com.
Ayad Akhtar is a novelist and playwright whose work frequently explores the Muslim-American experience.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and a two-time Tony Award nominee, he served as New York State Author under the auspices of the NYS Writers Institute from 2021 to 2023. He also served as President of PEN America, an eminent writers’ organization that champions freedom of expression and First Amendment rights.
Chris Gibson, who served as Republican congressman in New York’s 19th and 20th districts from 2011 to 2017, is the author of the new book, The Spirit of Philadelphia: A Call to Recover the Founding Principles (2025), “a clarion call to all Americans -- regardless of party or ideology — to participate in a much-needed reset of our struggling experiment in self-governance” (Major General Louis G. Irwin, Duquesne University).
From 2020 through 2023, Gibson served as president of his alma mater, Siena College.
Major support and funding provided by the Professor Ben-Ami Lipetz NYSWI Fund.