the creative 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.

In April 2023, Jane Curtin was our guest for the UAlbany Creative life series to discuss her life and work. You know her from "Third Rock from the Sun." You know her from "Kate & Allie." She won two Emmys for that. And of course, you know her as one of the original Not Ready for Primetime Players on the National Broadcasting Corporation's "Saturday Night Live."

In April 2023, Jane Curtin was our guest for the UAlbany Creative life series to discuss her life and work. You know her from "Third Rock from the Sun." You know her from "Kate & Allie." She won two Emmys for that. And of course, you know her as one of the original Not Ready for Primetime Players on the National Broadcasting Corporation's "Saturday Night Live."

Lucy Sante is a Belgian-born nonfiction writer, art critic and cultural commentator of astonishingly wide interests, including the Beastie Boys, early photography, and the history of NYC reservoirs. Her newest book is "Nineteen Reservoirs: On Their Creation and the Promise of Water for New York City." This conversation with Lucy Sante was recorded as part of The Creative Life Series at UAlbany on October 18, 2022.

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,…