One of America’s most illustrious writers – and a Siena College alumnus – will be inducted into the New York State Writers Hall of Fame on June 5.
William Kennedy, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Ironweed and seven other Albany Cycle novels, graduated from Siena in 1949. He was a member of the student newspaper during his years on campus.
The induction will take place at a Princeton Club dinner in New York. Kennedy joins Alexander Hamilton and Lillian Ross, among others, in this year’s class of inductees.
“We extend the heartiest congratulations to William Kennedy on his induction into the New York State Writers Hall of Fame,” said Br. F. Edward Coughlin, O.F.M., Ph.D., president of Siena. “His literary achievements bring great pride to his alma mater and to the Capital Region, especially his beloved hometown of Albany.”
Br. Coughlin will deliver a handwritten letter of congratulations to Kennedy.
After graduating from Siena and serving in the U.S. Army, Kennedy lived in Puerto Rico, where he met his mentor Saul Bellow, who encouraged him to write novels. Kennedy returned to Albany and worked as an investigative reporter for the Times Union. His use of Albany as the setting for eight of his novels was described by book critic Jonathan Yardley as painting "a portrait of a single city perhaps unique in American fiction.”
In addition to the Albany Cycle, Kennedy is also the author of three works of non-fiction, as well as plays, screenplays, children’s books and many pieces of literary criticism.
The New York State Writers Hall of Fame was established in 2010 by the Empire State Center for the Book and the Empire State Book Festival, and is headquartered at the New York State Library in Albany. The Hall of Fame was established "to highlight the rich literary heritage of the New York State and to recognize the legacy of individual New York State writers," according to Rocco Staino, director for the Center of the Book.
New writers, both living and deceased, have been inducted annually since 2010. The eight members of the Class of 2017 include:
- Ron Chernow (b. 1949) – Journalist, historian, and biographer
- Alexander Hamilton (1755 – 1804) – A prolific and vigorous writer, he authored 51 of the Federalist Papers.
- William Kennedy (b. 1928) – Pulitzer Prize winner and author of eight novels called the Albany Cycle
- Christopher Morley (1890 - 1957) – Journalist, novelist, essayist, and poet. He was the founder of the Baker Street Irregulars.
- Walter Dean Myers (1937 – 2014) – Author of children’s and young adult books. He was the third National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature.
- Frederick Law Olmsted (1822 – 1903) – Landscape architect who wrote about landscape, culture, and society. He was one of the earliest environmental writers.
- Suzan-Lori Parks (1963) – Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, novelist and screenwriter.
- Lillian Ross (1926) – American journalist and long-time writer for The New Yorker.
Past inductees include such legendary writers as James Baldwin, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Robert Caro, Frederick Douglass, Edith Wharton, Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, Dorothy Parker, Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison, Washington Irving and Kurt Vonnegut.
Kennedy is also receiving accolades from another source this month: WMHT-TV, the Capital Region’s PBS affiliate, will premiere the new documentary “Kennedy of Albany: A Writer and His City” on Monday, June 26 at 9pm.
