The Creative Life Series: Esmeralda Santiago

Esmeralda Santiago, a founding mother of Nuyorican literature, will visit the University at Albany for a conversation with WAMC’s Joe Donahue as part of The Creative Life: Conversation Series.

Free and open to the public, the event will take place 7 p.m. Thursday, November 8, 2018 at the University at Albany Campus Center Ballroom on the Uptown Campus. Earlier that same day, Santiago will hold a Craft Talk at 4:15 p.m. in the University at Albany Multi-Purpose Room, also on the Uptown Campus.

The Creative Life series is a major arts initiative of the New York State Writers Institute, UAlbany Performing Arts Center and University Art Museum in conjunction with regional public radio station WAMC Northeast Public Radio produced with major support from the University at Albany Foundation..

Esmeralda Santiago is a founding mother of Nuyorican literature. The eldest in a family of 11 children, Santiago came to the States from Puerto Rico at the age of 13. After eight years of part-time study in community colleges, she transferred to Harvard where she graduated magna cum laude.

Santiago’s bestselling 1993 memoir, I was named one of the “Best Memoirs of a Generation” by Oprah’s Book Club. In 2018, it was one of five finalists for the “One Book, One New York” community-wide reading project. Her second memoir, Almost a Woman (1999), received the American Library Association’s Alex Award, and was adapted for Masterpiece Theatre on PBS. Her epic 2011 novel, Conquistadora, set in 19th century Puerto Rico, was hailed as a “triumph” in The Washington Post. Oprah’s O. magazine called it, “A splendid expedition into colonial history complete with enrapturing suspense to the very end.”

The Creative Life series, a major arts initiative of the New York State Writers Institute, UAlbany Performing Arts Center and University Art Museum in conjunction with regional public radio station WAMC, brings leading figures from writing, music, dance, choreography, visual arts, architecture, theatre, and filmmaking to the University for conversation with Donahue about their creative inspiration, craft, and careers.

UAlbany’s Creative Life series continues with sculptor and public installation artist Jean Shin at 7 p.m. Thursday, November 1, at the UAlbany Performing Arts Center, and author, social activist, and documentary film writer Esmeralda Santiago at 7 p.m. Thursday, November 8, in at the Campus Center Ballroom.

Previous guests in The Creative Life Series have included fiction writer Joyce Carol Oates, tap dancer-choreographer Savion Glover, jazz violinist Regina Carter, painter David Salle, author Lois Lowry, choreographer Garth Fagan and sculptor and public installation artist Jean Shin.

For more information, call (518) 442-5620.

Major support for The Creative Life is provided by The University at Albany Foundation with additional support from the UAlbany Alumni Association, College of Arts and Sciences, Office of the Provost, and University Auxiliary Services.The Creative Life series brings leading figures from writing, music, dance, choreography, visual arts, architecture, theatre, and filmmaking to the University for conversation with Donahue about their creative inspiration, craft, and careers.