Press Releases

March 17, 1997
Edward Albee Receives Steinbeck Award at 20th "Meet the Writers" Book Fair

Southampton Graduate Campus Celebrates 20-Year Association With John Steinbeck

Contact: Jane Finalborgo or Joe Dionisio
(516) 287-8313
Fax: (516) 283-4081

Long Island University's Southampton Graduate Campus will the present the 9th annual John Steinbeck Award to playwright Edward Albee at the 20th Annual "Meet the Writers" Book Fair on Friday, May 9 from 4:30-7:30 p.m. in the Elaine Benson Gallery in Bridgehampton.

Albee, author of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, was a Kennedy Center Honors recipient in 1996. The Montauk resident will be among the more than 60 writers who will meet the public and autograph their work at the event, which traditionally kicks off The Hamptons' summer season.

The book fair, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary, benefits the Library and the Writing Program at Southampton Graduate Campus of Long Island University.

Through the Steinbeck Award-- named for the Nobel Prize-winning author who lived his final years on the East End of Long Island-- Southampton Graduate Campus recognizes contributions to literature and humanity by an East End writer. At the 1989 Book Fair, E.L. Doctorow became the first recipient, followed by Lanford Wilson, Peter Matthiessen, Kurt Vonnegut, Terrence McNally, Betty Friedan, David Ignatow and Wilfrid Sheed.

Edward Albee's acclaimed work has garnered renewed attention in recent years. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which brought him to national prominence after Elizabeth Taylor starred in the 1966 film adaptation, was revived in London in 1996. In another revival last year, A Delicate Balance enjoyed a successful run on Broadway.

Albee was born March 12, 1928, and began writing plays 30 years later. The two-time Pulitzer Prize winner (1967, 1975) is the author of The Zoo Story, Counting the Ways, The Sandbox, and Seascape.

In 1964, Albee was the recipient of the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the London Evening Standard Award, and the Tony. He also won the Obie Award in 1960. Critic Liliane Kerjan calls Albee "A master of language and absurd humour, with a fine ear for idiom and rhythm."

Among the authors at the book fair will be Roger Rosenblatt, Parsons Family University Professor in Writing at Southampton Graduate Campus, and Elaine Benson, founder of the Benson Gallery. Rosenblatt's memoir of the turbulent 1960s, Coming Apart: America and the Harvard Riots of 1969, published by Little, Brown and Company, is due for release this spring. Benson's Unmentionables: A Brief History of Underwear, was recently published by Simon and Shuster.

The Steinbeck Project.

Since its 1977 inception, the Steinbeck Project has raised $157,000 for Southampton Graduate Campus, an institution gaining recognition for its writing program. Funds have helped establish a Visiting Writer Program, the annual Steinbeck Lecture, student writing awards and scholarships, and acquisitions for the college library. In 1978, the project sponsored a Writers Resource Room in the library to honor Steinbeck. About 60 distinguished writers have used the room to date.

Elaine Steinbeck, widow of the author, and Elaine Benson are Co-Chairs of the event, which is generously sponsored this year by Kimco Realty Corporation and Bridgehampton Commons. The Benson Gallery is located at 2317 Montauk Highway in Bridgehampton.

Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at the door. For information contact Mary Foster, Director of Development and Alumni Affairs, at (516) 287-8348. East End writers who have published since last May and are interested in participating in the book fair should call Elizabeth Burns in the Southampton Graduate Campus Library, 287-8381.