Tobias Wolff to Visit SUNY New Paltz Campus Thursday, April 1, 2010

Tobias Wolff, renowned novelist and memoir writer, will visit the State University of New York at New Paltz as the spring speaker for the college’s Distinguished Speaker Series. Wolff will speak at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 1, at the McKenna Theatre.

Making a rare appearance in the Hudson Valley, Wolff will discuss his most recent full length novel “Old School,” the story of a 1960’s high school senior attending an elite boarding school in the Northeast.

Wolff, considered one of the great contemporary masters of the short story, is credited with numerous critically acclaimed works including “In Pharaoh’s Army: Memories of the Lost War” and “The Barracks Thief.”
“The reader really has to step up to the plate and read a short story," Wolff said. Wolff believes that short stories, like poems, demand a lot from their readers and the writer’s thrill is "working a miracle, making life where there was none" in the space of a few pages.

His work is translated widely and has received numerous awards, including the PEN/Faulkner Award; The Los Angeles Times Book Prize; both the PEN/Malamud and the Rea Award for Excellence in the Short Story; the Story Prize; and the Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Wolff has edited several anthologies, among them “Best American Short Stories 1994,” “A Doctor’s Visit: The Short Stories of Anton Chekhov” and “The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories.”

College president, Steven Poskanzer, said, “Wolff is a superb writer, whose short stories and novels illuminate and challenge his readers. I’ve long been a huge fan of his work, and I’m delighted that he will be gracing our campus.”

Wolff is the Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University, where he has taught classes in English and creative writing since 1997. He also served as the director of the Creative Writing Program at Stanford from 2000 to 2002.

To purchase tickets online, please visit www.speakerseries.tix.com. To order by phone, please call (845) 257-3880. Tickets may also be purchased at the Parker Theatre Box Office at SUNY New Paltz, which will open Feb. 22 – March 5 and March 29 – April 1, Monday – Friday, 11:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. The McKenna Theatre Box Office opens April 1, 6:30 p.m.

The Distinguished Speaker Series connects community members, alumni, friends, faculty, staff and students with well-known authors, policy makers and leaders, scientists, media experts, business people and other luminaries, on campus. The college received generous gifts from donors to underwrite part of this series.

The Series is sponsored by Key Bank, Peter and Helena Bienstock/Shawangunk Valley Conservancy and the SUNY New Paltz Composition Program.

For more information about the Distinguished Speaker Series, please visit www.newpaltz.edu/speakerseries.

Arrangements for the appearance of Tobias Wolff have been made through the Greater Talent Network, Inc., New York, NY.