author

October 1, 2017 - 10:05am
Alex Salkever co-wrote "The Driver in the Driverless Car: How Our Technology Choices Will Create the Future."

During a recent visit to Syracuse University's Newhouse School, author Alex Salkever joined The NewsHouse for an interview about the risks and rewards of technological advancement in our everyday lives.

February 8, 2017 - 9:33am
"Language is the only identity I have and even that is questionable," the Pulitzer Prize-winning author said Tuesday night.

For Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri, being a writer is about insisting you have a voice – or even voices. She learned this when she began to read, write and translate Italian – even though she grew up with Bengali and English.

“Translation is always an act of interpretation.” said Lahiri, who currently teaches creative writing at Princeton University.

Lahiri discussed the relationship between language, identity and writing Tuesday night during a University Lecture in Hendricks Chapel.

March 30, 2016 - 12:12pm
Mary Roach, journalist and author of several books, pursues all things considered weird, fascinating or taboo.

Mary Roach can easily be described as gutsy — fairly often, her work literally involves guts. 

October 8, 2015 - 8:16am
New York Times best-selling author talks life, writing, and the everyday struggles of being human.

After losing her mother to cancer, leaving college and dabbling in drugs and promiscuity, Cheryl Strayed took a hike. At 22, she didn’t know that hiking the Pacific Crest Trail would change her life forever and ultimately help reveal her true identity as a writer.

April 26, 2013 - 7:23am
The short story author discussed the art of writing in HBS Gifford Auditorium on Wednesday evening.

Reading Diane Williams Vicky Swanky Is a Beauty (McSweeney’s 2012) is to enter a kaleidoscope of unsettling emotions, where time either stands still or moves entirely too fast. But to listen to her read from it makes a world of difference. Williams is soft-spoken and almost diminutive in appearance, but her voice brims with steel. More importantly, her advice to young writers packs a punch:

March 30, 2012 - 12:33am
Throughout the evening, the environmentalist and author shared personal stories that helped her find her own voice.

Conservationist and environmental scientist professor at Dartmouth College, Terry Tempest Williams, closed out this year's University Lectures series with a conversation on finding one's voice, as well as her perceptions of America and the world in the past, present and future.

Williams' presentation, titled "The Writer as Witness," was held Thursday evening in Hendricks Chapel. It was formatted as a conversation with Syracuse University geography professor Don Mitchell.

March 20, 2012 - 8:49pm
Zadie Smith delivered the second lecture in the spring semester for the annual University Lecture series.

In a floral frock, pink head wrap and black-rimmed glasses covering a third of her face, Zadie Smith is anything but dull.

But the accomplished British novelist -- who still wonders how she manages to draw a crowd -- told a captive audience at Hendricks Chapel Tuesday night that writers’ lectures make her uncomfortable.

You just never know what to do, she said. “You glance around, look at your nails then back at the writer and wonder what she is saying.”

March 6, 2012 - 11:25pm
Jonathan Franzen, a National Book Award-winning author, spoke at Hendricks Chapel on Tuesday night as the first speaker of the spring semester in the University Lecture series.

A bald, middle-aged man looked up from his newspaper with a start, his eyes magnified by lenses that look like portholes.

“Cornel West is also speaking tonight?” he said to the woman beside him. “Shoot, I like him.”

The woman folded her wrinkled hands on her copy of The Corrections. “I like Franzen,” she said.

October 11, 2011 - 8:50pm
Best-selling author David Sedaris engages a Syracuse University audience with his satirical humor and real-life experiences.