Best Selling Author, Poet and Naturalist Diane Ackerman to Read at SUNY Ulster Featured Speaker in Herbert H. & Sonia P. Reuner Library Writers Series

STONE RIDGE, NY, October 28, 2012

Part of the Herbert H. and Sofia P. Reuner Library Writers Series presented by The Ulster Community College Foundation Inc. Joe Donahue, Vice President of News and Programming at WAMC Northeast Public Radio, will interview Ackerman about her work, creativity and writing challenges, and facilitate the audience discussion. Donahue hosts The Book Show and The Roundtable.

Ackerman is the author of two dozen highly acclaimed works of nonfiction and poetry, including the best selling A Natural History of the Senses, Dawn Light and The Zookeeper's Wife, a true story about Catholic zookeepers in Poland aiding Jews in their hideout during World War II.

Her most recent book, One Hundred Names for Love, a memoir about her author husband's recovery from a stroke that hit the language area of his brain, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Books for a Better Life award.

Ackerman recommends that writers follow their own curiosity and passions. "Water flows into empty spaces and so does my curiosity," she says. "I've always been fascinated by human nature and nature, and the cross roads where they can throw light on the other."

While she has spent time working with endangered animals in different parts of the world, Ackerman says observing backyard animals can be just as interesting. "You don't have to leave home to find adventure," she says.

Ackerman was born in Waukegan, Illinois and grew up in Allentown, Pa. She received an MA, MFA, and PhD from Cornell University and has received many prizes and awards, including a D.Litt. from Kenyon College, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the John Burroughs Nature Award, and the Lavan Poetry Prize, as well as being honored as a Literary Lion by the New York Public Library. She has taught at a variety of universities, including Columbia and Cornell.

Started in 1998, The SUNY Ulster Herbert H. & Sonia P. Reuner Library Writers Series is a special program that brings renowned writers to the Stone Ridge campus every fall. Past authors participating in the program include Da Chen, David Rakoff, Francine Prose, Carolyn Forche, Billy Collins, Joyce Carol Oates, Michael Cunningham and Jaime Gordon.

Ackerman, who resides in Ithaca, says she looks forward to her first visit to the area. "I love meeting with students and finding out what they're working on and their concerns," she says. "It's stimulating."

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call (845) 687-5262 or visit http://www.sunyulster.edu.

About SUNY Ulster
Ulster County Community College is a two-year college of the State University of New York, located in Stone Ridge, in the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountain region. SUNY Ulster offers students small classes and faculty; online degree programs and courses; computer and technology facilities; and cultural programming; as well as continuing education and services for businesses. More than 60 percent of SUNY Ulster graduates continue their studies at four-year public and private institutions throughout the state and nation. For more information, visit http://www.sunyulster.edu