Books & Bangles – Musician/Author Susanna Hoffs In Conversation Nov. 9

ALBANY — Singer, songwriter, actress, and author Susanna Hoffs will visit the University at Albany for an evening of conversation with WAMC’s Joe Donahue as part of The Creative Life: A Conversation Series. 

Free and open to the public, the event will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9, at Page Hall on the Downtown UAlbany campus, 135 Western Ave. Books will be for sale and a signing will follow the conversation. 

Susanna Hoffs rose to fame in the 80s as lead singer and guitarist of The Bangles, an all-female band that blended ’60s garage rock, lush harmonies, and jangly guitars and released a string of hits including “Manic Monday” (1986), “Walk Like an Egyptian” (1986), a cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “A Hazy Shade of Winter” (1987), “In Your Room” (1988), and “Eternal Flame” (1989).

Hoffs is also the author of a bestselling debut novel, This Bird Has Flown (2023). Universal Pictures has acquired the movie adaptation rights to This Bird Has Flown. “As a lifelong fiction, film, and music junkie, writing the novel was the realization of a dream,” said Hoffs in an interview published in Deadline Hollywood. 

In addition to her work with The Bangles, Hoffs has released five solo albums. 

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 regional public radio station WAMC Northeast Public Radio. 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. Previous guests have included fiction writer Joyce Carol Oates, Broadway star Patti LuPone, Warhol film star Bibbe Hansen, high-wire artist Philippe Petit, art critic Lucy Sante and actress/comedian Jane Curtin.