Press Releases

March 31, 1999
Susan Isaacs to Receive Steinbeck Award at 22nd Annual Meet The Writers Book Fair

Southampton College Hosts "Official Kickoff" to Summer Season in The Hamptons

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

Southampton, NY -- Novelist/screenwriter Susan Isaacs will be the 11th recipient of the John Steinbeck Award when Southampton College of Long Island University hosts the 22nd annual John Steinbeck "Meet The Writers" Book Fair & Art Preview on Friday, May 7 from 4:30-7:30 p.m. at the Elaine Benson Gallery in Bridgehampton.

Sixty writers will meet the public and autograph their books at the rain-or-shine event, which benefits the John Steinbeck Project at Southampton College and traditionally kicks off the summer season in The Hamptons.

"The calendar says that summer begins in (June)," wrote syndicated columnist James Brady. "It lies. In the Hamptons, it (begins) with the annual writer's fair."

"Meet The Writers" is sponsored by Kimco Realty Corporation and Bridgehampton Commons. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at the door.

Through the Steinbeck Award-- named for the Nobel Prize-winning author who lived his final years on the East End of Long Island-- Southampton College recognizes contributions to literature and humanity by East End writers. E.L. Doctorow became the first recipient at the 1989 Book Fair, followed by Lanford Wilson, Peter Matthiessen, Kurt Vonnegut, Terrence McNally, Betty Friedan, David Ignatow, Wilfrid Sheed, Edward Albee, and 1998 honoree James Salter.

Isaacs' popular and critically acclaimed writing efforts have found favor among movie producers. Her novel, Shining Through (Harper, 1988) was adapted into a 1992 film starring Michael Douglas and Melanie Griffith. She also wrote the screenplay for the 1987 film Hello Again, and for Compromising Positions, a 1985 film starring Susan Sarandon.

Working often in the mystery genre, Isaacs is credited with an ability to keep her plots boiling. "(Her) plots (are) streamlined, the time-frame is short and the voice we hear is witty, and coming-right-at-us real," wrote the Washington Post. "Susan Isaacs never writes a mere mystery... but something more."

Other Isaacs books include Lily White (HarperCollins, 1996), After All These Years (HarperCollins, 1993), Magic Hour (HarperCollins, 1991), Almost Paradise (Harper, 1984), Close Relations (Lippincott, 1980) and Compromising Positions (Times Books, 1978).

Born Dec. 7, 1943 in Brooklyn, Isaacs now is a board member of the Mystery Writers of America, National Book Critics Circle, Intl. Association of Crime Writers, and Poets & Writers.

The John Steinbeck "Meet The Writers" Book Fair benefits the Library and the Writing Program at Southampton College.

About the Steinbeck Project: Since its 1977 inception, the Steinbeck Project has raised $200,000 for Southampton College. Funds have helped establish a Visiting Writers program, the annual Steinbeck Lecture, student writing awards, scholarships, and acquisitions for the College's library. The College also will host its annual Summer Writers Conference from June 30-July 8, a forum for writers of all genres to study and discuss their craft.

Thanks in part to last year's launch of an MFA program in English and Writing, the College is gaining national recognition as a center for writing. The MFA program features a famed Circle of Writers who make the East End their home, including: author and Emmy-winning journalist Roger Rosenblatt, the Parsons Family University Professor in Writing; poet William Hathaway; and novelists Indira Ganesan and Kaylie Jones. For information about the MFA in Writing, contact Noreen McKenna at 516-287-8200.

Elaine Steinbeck, widow of the author, and Kimberly Goff, are co-chairs of the event. The 1999 Book Fair will mark the first without Elaine Benson, who passed away in October 1998.

East End writers who have been published since last May and are interested in participating should call Linda Baccash at 516-324-4762. For information about the Book Fair, call Carol Gilbert, Director of Development and Alumni Affairs at Southampton College, at 516-287-8348.

The Benson Gallery is located at 2317 Montauk Highway in Bridgehampton.

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