Living Writers Series welcomes award-winning novelist Amy Shearn
Writer Amy Shearn is the next featured guest in SUNY Oswego’s 2026 Living Writers Series, appearing at 3 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 26, in the Marano Campus Center auditorium (room 132).
In her novel “Animal Instinct,” Shearn imagines what would happen if someone created the perfect romantic partner, one that happens to be virtual.
“When I was writing ‘Animal Instinct,’ just a few years ago," she said, "the idea that my character might fall in love with an AI seemed speculative. Obviously, I thought, if a person were obsessed with AI, it indicated some deep psychic wound. And yet here we are.”
Shearn’s appearance continues this year’s Living Writers Series theme of A/I, which explores the tension between Artistic Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence.
“I know we're meant to keep up with technology as it progresses, but I can't help feeling deeply troubled by our culture's enthusiasm for outsourcing thought, creativity and feeling,” Shearn said. “I just hope we won't willingly give away that which makes us human.”
Shearn will discuss her writing career, her work across fiction and nonfiction, and the questions surrounding creativity. In addition to “Animal Instinct,” she has written “Dear Edna Sloane,” “Unseen City,” “The Mermaid of Brooklyn” and “How Far Is the Ocean From Here.”
Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times Modern Love column, Slate, Poets & Writers and O: The Oprah Magazine.
Shearn received a Promise Award from the Sustainable Arts Foundation, and has been awarded residencies at The Lorca, Byrdcliffe, SPACE on Ryder Farm, The Unruly Retreat, The Cabins and the self-directed Artist Residency in Motherhood.
She teaches creative writing at the Yale Writers’ Workshop, Sackett Street Writers Workshop and Writing Co-Lab, an experimental cooperative she co-founded. She lives in Brooklyn.
The event is free and open to the campus and wider community. A book signing will be held after the Q&A. This Living Writers Series event is brought to you by ARTSwego and the Department of English and Creative Writing.
During Living Writers Series events, the community may park for free in lots E-10 and E-17 beyond Marano Campus Center (no pass required). Visit oswego.edu/parking for parking and campus maps.
For assistance in attending an event, contact Accessibility Resources at 315.312.3358 or [email protected].
— Submitted by the Living Writers Series