The Cole Summer Writers Institute is excited to announce that local writer and former educator Paul O’Brien will be joining us this summer for a one-day workshop! Dr. O’Brien is a well-respected retired educator whose influence spanned five decades of teaching and impacted thousands of students and teachers. He has held leadership roles in various professional organizations, including the New York State English Council. Upon retirement, Paul embarked on a prolific writing career that has resulted in seven books to date. Specializing in memoir, we are very excited to have Paul come and share his expertise with the Cole Writers this summer! Below is his full bio:
Paul O’Brien taught English at Notre Dame and Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons for forty seven years. In his retirement, he is a member of the Mohawk Valley Library Foundation Board and on the Board of the Dominican Retreat and Conference Center. Paul serves on the Curriculum and Steering Committees of UCALL (Union College Academy for Lifelong Learning). He loves to read, write, and travel, especially up to North Point on Raquette Lake where his wife’s family has a home. Paul lives in Niskayuna, New York, with his wife Deborah and their cat Casey.
His works include Musings on a Sunday Afternoon (2024), a book of poems that celebrate moments and experiences that speak of our better nature; Knowing the Place (2022), a book of poems and humorous dialogues; Onward (2021), a profile of eight students and the direction their lives took; Looking Back, Looking Beyond (2020), experiences that took on deeper meaning over time; CT, A Cat’s Story (2019), a life with illustrations of Paul and Debbie’s cat CT; Keys on the Road (2017), stories of growing up in a small town; and Voices from Room 6 ( 2015), a look back at his years of teaching.
The Cole Summer Writers Institute 