creative life

Billy Collins is a former Poet Laureate of the United States and is the author of twelve collections of poetry. His latest is Water, Water: Poems. It is a collection of sixty new poems where Collins explores the subtle beauties and ironies of daily life.

Marianne Leone, actress, writer and advocate for disabled children, is the author of "Five-Dog Epiphany: How a Quintet of Badass Bichons Retrieved Our Joy." She and her husband, actor Chris Cooper, will join Joe Donahue on stage at Page Hall on the University at Albany Downtown Campus for a Creative Life conversation at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, September 16.

Susanna Hoffs co-founded The Bangles in 1981 and they released a string of chart-topping singles including “Manic Monday," “Walk Like an Egyptian,” “Hazy Shade of Winter,” and “Eternal Flame,” before embarking on a critically acclaimed solo career.Now, she has written a novel (just out in paperback) entitled "This Bird Has Flown." She joined us for an interview for The Creative Life series.

Designer Debbie Millman and author Roxane Gay visited the University at Albany for a conversation with WAMC’s Joe Donahue as part of The Creative Life: A Conversation Series on Tuesday, November 2, 2021 at the UAlbany Performing Arts Center on the University at Albany’s Uptown Campus.

Sonia Manzano, the actor and author who played Maria for nearly five decades on "Sesame Street" will be the guest in this spring’s edition of The Creative Life: A Conversation Series at UAlbany, appearing at the Performing Arts Center at 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 30. She will be in conversation with WAMC's Joe Donahue. That evening, also at UAlbany, Manzano will perform as part of a Selected Shorts live event which will feature Manzano along with Patricia Kalember, and Bhavesh Patel.

Ruth Reichl is a James Beard Award-winning food writer and former New York Times food critic and was Joe Donahue's guest as part of The Creative Life: A Conversation Series at UAlbany on October 5, 2021. The Creative Life conversation series is presented in partnership with the University Art Museum, NYS Writers Institute and WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

William Michael Griffin Jr., better known by his stage name Rakim, is “near-universally acknowledged as one of the greatest MCs – perhaps the greatest –…

Philippe Petit has performed on the high wire more than 80 times around the world; he is also a magician, street juggler, visual artist, builder,…

Comedian, actor, television writer, author and musician Paul Reiser co-starred as Paul Buchman in the decade-defining 1990s comedy, "Mad About You." Other…

Philippe Petit has performed on the high wire more than 80 times around the world; he is also a magician, street juggler, visual artist, builder,…