The Roundtable

Donna Leon’s memoir, "Wandering through Life," gave her fans a colorful tour through her life, from childhood in New Jersey to adventures in China and Iran, to her love of Venice and opera. Nowhere, however, did she discuss her writing life.Now in her new collection of essays "BACKSTAGE: Stories of a Writing Life," Donna reveals her admiration for, and inspiration from, the great crime novelists Ruth Rendell and Ross Macdonald, examining their approach to storytelling as she dissects her favorite books of theirs. She expresses her love for Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations and her appreciation for Sir Walter Scott’s generosity of spirit. And she chronicles the amount of research she undertakes to be able to present her characters and work authentically.

The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond. Today's panelists are public policy and communications expert Theresa Bourgeois, Former EPA Regional Administrator, Professor at Bennington College, and President of Beyond Plastics Judith Enck, is a writer and analyst; he recently retired from the presidency of Siena College and was a former NY Congressman, and his new book is “The Spirit of Philadelphia” Chris Gibson, and Former Vice President for Editorial Development at the New York Press Association Judy Patrick.

"How to Talk to Your Son about Fascism" is a practical guide for parents, caregivers, and others with young men in their lives on how to talk with those young men about fascism and the right-wing, which specifically and particularly preys on them for recruitment.The book covers the history of right-wing recruitment of young men, explaining why the right-wing focuses on recruiting men both on a theoretical basis and through the logic of movement-building, and then moves to practical analysis and suggestions for how to counter recruitment today.

The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond. Today's panelists are Publisher Emeritus of The Daily Freeman Ira Fusfeld, Vice President for Editorial Development at the New York Press Association Judy Patrick, and Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute Robert Pondiscio.

Rogue Oliphant is a collective of musicians that specialize in original songs, and accompanying spoken word lyrics by the Pulitzer Prize winning Irish poet Paul Muldoon and Paul Muldoon and Rogue Oliphant will be performing at Cherry Valley Artworks on August 30th at 7:30 PM.Paul Muldoon & Rogue Oliphant have a new single and Album - Visible from Space. This is what happens when a World-renowned poet joins forces with an all-star musical collective - a transcendent fusion of lyrical spoken-word storytelling and genre-crossing arrangements. The album, Visible from Space, arrives via Soul Selects Records on Friday, September 12th.

Barrington Stage Company presents the world premiere of “Something Beautiful: The Songs of Ahrens and Flaherty,” at the Boyd-Quinson Theater in Pittsfield, Massachusetts from August 28-30. The brand new celebration of the work of Tony Award winners Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty is conceived of and directed by Jason Danieley.

The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond. Today's panelists are Dean of the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity at the University at Albany Robert Griffin, Professor Emeritus of Russian at Hofstra University and author of: Illiberal Vanguard: Populist Elitism in the United States and Russia Alexander Mihailovic, and Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan.

This week's Book Picks comes from Kira Wizner from Merritt Bookstore in Millbrook, NY and Lily Bartels from Open Door Bookstore in Schenectady, NY.

Paula Saunders’ new novel is “Starting from Here.” It is a portrait of a young woman striving for greatness. It is 1973 Rapid City, South Dakota, at the center of a family struggling to keep afloat is René, a young girl whose dream is to become a dancer. With the support of her mother, Eve, whose own dreams has been dashed by life’s many demands. René is sent to train alongside stick-thin sculpted girls in Phoenix, then onto Denver, and beyond.

The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond. Today's panelists are Stuart Rice Honorary Chair at the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s College of Information and Computer Sciences (CICS) and Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University Fran Berman, Professor of History and International Relations at Vassar College Robert Brigham, Associate Professor in the department of sociology at Vassar College Catherine Tan, and Investment Banker on Wall St. Mark Wittman.