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Zach Malave is Puerto Rican and West African. He currently is a University at Albany sophomore with intended majors in Latin American and Caribbean Studies and Psychology.

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Celebrating the art of literacy

By Zach Malave

During the NYS Writers Institute's Albany Book Festival, I learned about various groups and diverse backgrounds of authors who find a passion in telling a story; a story that allowed readers to understand and connect to it on a personal level.

This event was an environment that gave authors and readers the ability to celebrate the art of literacy; in order to establish an understanding while being able to illuminate a connection between human beings. They were able to portray these connections through the help of many forms of literature genres, such as poetry, comics, fictions, and etc.

I was grateful to see Gregory Maguire, the author of Wicked, which was turned into the hit musical on Broadway. During his talk, he said there is an “interconnectedness of technology; we tend to check our phones instead of slowing down and enjoying the moment, perhaps even reading a book.”

This comparison of books vs technology, bridges a gap between the depths of finding who you are and expressing deep and complex ways of thinking. I believe he wanted to express the idea that reading has a much more positive impact on you as an individual. While at the same time allowing you to find beneficial discoveries compared to using Instagram or Facebook.

I enjoyed my time in the book festival because it was very diverse and fluid, in the sense that there was a mass production of different kind of books that covered intense and complex topics. Some complex topics that were generated around the room were race, gender, language, and more. I found these topics intriguing because it mainly connected to my major; Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

Overall, I think reading and writing are important because it gives a certain escape from the real world. It’s a form of expression that flows knowledge to an individual or group. It helps inform and reconstruct a person's thinking or perspective on life, as well as social constructs.

I think books or journals can help illustrate and understand how we feel, which then helps us express ourselves. During the read aloud, Gregory Maguire stated how “Fairy tales are a way to step out of ourselves and come back with more knowledge, 'Once Upon a Time' is where it all starts…”

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