SUNY Oswego’s Living Writers Series returns with AI-themed fall lineup

SUNY Oswego’s Living Writers Series will return in the fall under the theme “A/I — Artistic Intelligence/Artificial Intelligence,” with nine writers scheduled to appear in a program built around creativity, authorship, career building and the question of what it means to be human in an age of artificial intelligence. According to the university, Sari Fordham organized the lineup and is teaching the course for a second time. She said she chose “A/I” because she was interested in the tension between art and artifice in the era of AI, and because she wanted to know how other writers were engaging with it, especially as students build skills in an environment shaped by predictive text. Fordham said she hopes students leave the class optimistic about the arts, informed about where the field stands and more confident about their own A/I philosophy. She also said she wants the class to be fun. The talks will take place in the Marano Campus Center auditorium unless otherwise noted, and the events are open to the public. Each session will include an author talk or reading followed by a question-and-answer period, and most will also include book signings. The schedule begins on Sept. 14 with Juliet and Keith Giglio. It continues on Sept. 23 with Soma Mei Sheng Frazier, the Oswego Reading Initiative selection and a member of the English and creative writing faculty, then Sept. 30 with Sejal Shah, Oct. 12 with Éireann Lorsung, Oct. 26 with Amy Shearn, Nov. 2 with Arree Chung via Zoom, Nov. 9 with Theresa Okokon and Nov. 16 with Debbie Urbanski. On the event page for the Oct. 26 session, the university lists a 3:00 p.m. to 4:20 p.m. conversation with Amy Shearn at Marano Campus Center. It describes her as the author of Animal Instinct, Dear Edna Sloane, Unseen City, The Mermaid of Brooklyn and How Far Is the Ocean From Here, and says she teaches creative writing at the Yale Writers' Workshop, Sackett Street Writers Workshop and Writing Co-Lab, which she co-founded. Shearn said that when she was writing Animal Instinct, the idea that a character might fall in love with an AI seemed speculative. She also said she is troubled by “our culture’s enthusiasm for outsourcing thought, creativity, and feeling,” and hopes people will not “willingly give away that which makes us human.” The course also provides professional development for teaching assistants Molly Johnson, Elliot Carrick and Jasmine de la Vega. They will help with the author visits and learn about course design and hosting a visiting author series. The series is supported by ARTSwego and the Student Arts Fee, along with the Department of English and Creative Writing, the Oswego Reading Initiative, the Office of Sustainability, the Office of Accessibility Resources, The River’s End Bookstore and the student-run literary magazine Subnivean. Community members may park free in lots E-10 and E-17 beyond Marano Campus Center without a pass, and accessibility help is available from Accessibility Resources at 315.312.3358.