Grace Paley
February 14–15, 2000
- Reading: RealVideo, MP3
- Discussion: RealVideo, MP3
- Introduction by Sarah Coelho: MP3
- See the Kelly Writers House calendar entry for more about this event
- 2000 Fellows seminar notes
- 2000 Fellows print brochure
February 15 Discussion
- the state of political activism in rural and agrarian America MP3
- feminism impacting environmentalismMP3
- sadness associated with political activeness in the 1960s MP3
- those who got left behind MP3
- politically active kids MP3
- non violence as art and strategy MP3
- Paley reading "Definition" MP3
- unknown audio missing MP3
- Gulf War comments MP3
- disappearance of children in 1990s MP3
- on whether great writers are born or made MP3
- lack of popular political movement for youth MP3
- comments for Sasha MP3
- problems of Jewish identity in The Loudest Voice and in Paley's life MP3
- irony and John Rafferty MP3
- Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, and Jack Kerouac MP3
- scariness of the liberal agenda MP3
- Cassie's forgiveness MP3
- reading of "Now" MP3
Also available
- Kelly Writers House Podcast #21, featuring Grace Paley MP3
Bio
Grace Paley, the first recipient of the Edith Wharton Citation of Merit, was born in the Bronx in 1922. She is the author of three highly acclaimed collections of short fiction--The Little Disturbances of Man (1959), Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (1974), and Later the Same Day (1985)--as well as three collections of poetry, including Leaning Forward, also published in 1985. Ms. Paley has taught at Columbia and Syracuse Universitites, and currently teaches at both City College of New York, where she is writer-in-residence, and Sarah Lawrence College, where she has taught creative writing and literature for 18 years. She received a Guggenheim fellowhsip in 1961, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1966, and an award from the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1970. She is a member of the Executive Board of P.E.N. Actively involved in anti-war, feminist and anti-nuclear movements, Ms. Paley has been a member of the War Resisters' League, Resist, and Women's Pentagon Action, and was one of the founders of the Greenwich Village Peace Center in 1961; she regards herself as a "somewhat combative pacifist and cooperative anarchist." Ms. Paley has two children and one grandchild, and divides her time between New York City and Thetford Hill, Vermont. In Spring 1987, Ms. Paley was awarded a Senior Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts, in recognition of her lifetime contribution to literature.