The inaugural Oneonta Literary Festival is in full swing, bringing together the SUNY Oneonta, Hartwick College and greater Oneonta communities for a yearlong celebration of literature in all of its forms.
Hosted jointly by the two institutions, the Oneonta Literary Festival kicked off this month and will continue throughout the year, featuring talks from renowned authors, workshops, readings, performances and other events, all of which are free and open to the public.
The festival officially began with a reading and book launch for SUNY Oneonta Assistant Professor of English Sheena Mason’s new book, “The Raceless Antiracist: Why Ending Race Is the Future of Antiracism” on Oct. 9, followed by a kickoff week of events ranging from a book signing featuring 11 poets, novelists and creative nonfiction writers to a book fair highlighting local authors.
Oneonta Literary Festival community partners include the Huntington Memorial Library, Community Arts Network of Oneonta (CANO), the Oneonta City School District and the Green Toad Bookstore.
"We wanted to build on our successful Red Dragon Reading Series and our existing partnerships with groups like the Hartwick creative writing faculty, the Huntington Library, and the Bright Hills Literary Center to highlight the large community of readers and writers in Oneonta and Otsego County,” said SUNY Oneonta Associate Professor of English Suzanne Black, one of the organizers. “We also wanted to raise awareness of the work of local authors, who don't always have exhibitions or performances in the same way as visual artists, musicians, or theater groups."
On Saturday, Oct. 19, a Poetry Slam at the B Side Ballroom & Supper Club brought together SUNY Oneonta alumni, employees and students for a thought-provoking night of spoken word.
Alumni Kristen Tomanocy '11, Matt Coonan '16 and Jessica Bailey '12 —all past members of SUNY Oneonta’s student Slam Poetry team—performed original works in front of an attentive crowd of people who snapped their fingers to show support and/or agreement. Director of Student Life and Leadership/Hunt Union Robb Thibault emceed the slam portion of the night, which featured alumni, employee and student competitors and judges. Alum Justine Bishop, Class of 2015, took home the grand prize.
On Monday, Oct. 21, author Cristina Henríquez delivered the annual Mills Distinguished Lecture inside a packed Alumni Field House. Henríquez discussed her award-winning novel, "The Book of Unknown Americans," which was the campus’ 2024 Common Read book.
Afterward, the author sat down with Assistant Professor Maria Chaves Daza onstage for a discussion and took questions from the audience. Earlier in the day, Henríquez had met with students, faculty and staff for a more intimate Q&A session at Hunt Union.
The next scheduled Oneonta Literary Festival event, a Reading by the Bright Hill Poets, will take place Tuesday, Nov. 12, at 7 p.m. in Craven Lounge at the Morris Conference Center on campus.
For a full list of events, visit https://suny.oneonta.edu/english/literary-festival.