What
better place for the New
York Folklore Society to have its annual conference with a theme of “Writing
Folklore” than Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown, home of Washington Irving, the first
prominent American writer to use folklore in his work? The HVWC is a co-sponsor
of the conference, with City
Lore, and we invite the public to the Friday night kick-off—space permitting.
(Please call ahead.)
Dr. Michael Black, a professor at Baruch College, NYC, will talk about Irving’s legacy at 7:15.
Dr.
Kirin Narayan will give a keynote talk at 8 pm. She was raised in a Hindu
household in India, has a Ph. D. from U. of CA Berkeley, and is now a professor
of anthropology and languages and cultures of Asia at the U. of Wisconsin in Madison.
Her books include Storytellers, Saints, and Scoundrels: Folk Narrative in Hindu
Religious Teaching (1989); Mondays on the Dark Night of the Moon: Himalayan
Foothill Folktales (1997); and Love, Stars and All That (1994), a novel
about South Asian Americans. She is the recipient of fellowships from the National
Endowment for the Humanities and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
As our lives get faster and more complex, it seems more important than ever to examine our cultural roots and the folkways that still exist in our modern culture. And if we are writers, we will find as Irving did that these offer a gold mine of interesting material!
Suggested Donation: $5 ($3 for HVWC members and those under age 18)
The readings at the HVWC are made possible in part by a grant from the Bydale Foundation; the David G. Taft Foundation; the Orchard Foundation; and the Thendara Foundation; with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency; and by Westchester Arts Council with funds from Westchester County Government, corporations and individuals.