Designer Debbie Millman and author Roxane Gay will visit the University at Albany for a conversation with WAMC’s Joe Donahue as part of The Creative Life: A Conversation Series.
The event, free and open to the public, will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, November 2, 2021 at the UAlbany Performing Arts Center on the University at Albany’s Uptown Campus at 1400 Washington Avenue. Both guests will participate in a book signing in the theatre lounge after the event.
A UAlbany alum, Debbie Millman is also an author, educator, curator and host of the podcast Design Matters, one of the world’s first and longest running podcasts. She has written six books and has two books of illustrated essays.
Her latest publication is Why Design Matters, soon to be released by HarperCollins, showcases dozens of her most exciting interviews. Millman’s illustrated works have appeared in publications such as The New York Times, New York Magazine, Print Magazine, Design Observer and Fast Company.
Millman’s artwork is included in the Boston Biennale, Chicago Design Museum, Anderson University, School of Visual Arts, Long Island University, The Wolfsonion Museum, and the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art.
Roxane Gay is one of the great public intellectuals in America today. Her books include the modern-day classics, Bad Feminist: Essays (2014), which Time magazine called, “a manual on how to be human,” and Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body (2017), a “work of staggering honesty” (New Republic) that explores her relationship with food, weight, and body image. Gay’s forthcoming book is How to Be Heard (2022), practical advice for anyone who wants to use their voice to have an impact on the world. A contributing op-ed writer for the New York Times, she is also the author of The World of Wakanda (2017) for Marvel Comics, and publishes a newsletter, The Audacity.
“Debbie Millman is one of the finest interviewers working today,” writes Gay. “She is, indeed, my wife, so you would expect me to believe in her unparalleled interviewing ability, but it also happens to be the truth. Over the past sixteen years, the Design Matters project has expanded as her skill has sharpened. She has created a gloriously interesting and ongoing conversation about what it means to live well, overcome trauma, face rejection, learn to love and be loved, and thrive both personally and professionally.”
The Creative Life series is a major arts initiative of the University Art Museum, New York State Writers Institute and UAlbany Performing Arts Center in conjunction with WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Sponsored by The University at Albany Foundation, the series features live onstage interviews conducted by WAMC’s "Roundtable" host Joe Donahue with artists of national and international prominence in conversation about their creative inspiration, their craft, their careers and the demands of sustaining an artistic practice over time. A question and answer period closes each program.
Major support for The Creative Life is provided by The University at Albany Foundation with additional support from the UAlbany Alumni Association and University Auxiliary Services.
More information can be obtained by calling the UAlbany Performing Arts Center’s box office at (518) 442-3997.
COVID PROTOCOL FOR ALL IN-PERSON EVENTS:
All individuals, regardless of vaccination status, must wear a mask or other face covering while inside any UAlbany owned, operated or leased building.
Unvaccinated individuals are also required to wear face coverings in all outdoor settings. This revised mask requirement will remain in place until the University removes the requirement upon the recommendations of the CDC or other public health officials. Individuals should not attend our in-person events if they — or anyone in their household — are displaying any symptoms of COVID-19.
ON CAMPUS PARKING
Courtesy parking for Creative Life events on the Uptown Campus will be available in the State Quad Student Parking Lot one hour prior to and one hour after events.
Visitor parking lots are also available for $5 per vehicle, though parking spaces are very limited.
For a map of the UAlbany campuses including parking lots, visit www.albany.edu/map
