Ira Glass Comes to Queens College in March

On Saturday, March 11 at 8pm, Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College welcomes radio host Ira Glass for a multimedia presentation that chronicles his life and career in storytelling.

For more than 25 years, public radio fans around the world have traveled the airwaves guided by the instantly recognizable voice and keen journalistic mind of Ira Glass. Glass, who began his career as an intern at National Public Radio (NPR) in 1978, is the creator, producer, and host of This American Life, the iconic weekly public radio program he launched in 1995 that attracts more than 5 million listeners around the world every week. Glass has pioneered a highly influential style of documentary storytelling, exploring topics both intimate and international in scope-from humorous personal history to true crime, to pressing domestic issues like immigration, gun violence, and the economy. The show has been awarded the highest honors for broadcasting and journalistic excellence, including six Peabody Awards and the very first Pulitzer Prize ever awarded to a radio show or podcast, breaking all records to become the most popular podcast ever created. Named Time magazine's "Best Radio Host in America," Glass uses a mix of audio clips, music, and video to pull back the curtain on his process, life, and career as one of America's foremost storytellers.

Glass' Seven Things I've Learned combines audio clips, music, and video to tell his life story, as he shares lessons and insights gathered over his long, winding, and often wild career. Over the years, he has worked on nearly every NPR network news program and held virtually every production job at its headquarters. He has been a tape cutter, newscast writer, desk assistant, editor, reporter, and producer. Glass has also filled in as host of the news shows, Talk of the Nation and Weekend All Things Considered. About the program, he has said, "Some of the things I've learned have to do with radio. Some don't. I won't pretend: this talk is a container for whatever lessons interest me the day I show up on stage. I'll show video and play audio clips of especially illuminating things that've happened on the radio show, and especially funny things too. I'll explain what we learned making a television show and why we asked to be taken off television. I may talk about Serial. I may discuss hiking, which I've never tried, or marriage, which I have."

In addition to the public performance at 8pm, Glass will meet Queens College students in the afternoon for an informal classroom Q&A with 30 students from English and Media Studies majors for 60 minutes. This Q&A is not open to the general public.

Queens College English professor Jason Tougaw says "Ira Glass is a supreme audio storytelling. As Co-Director of the Queens Podcast Lab and a faculty member teaching podcasting, I work with a lot of talented students following in his footsteps. We also have WNYC's Arun Venugopal on campus this semester. Our students will be learning from legends of the medium."

Kupferberg Center for the Arts is located at 65-30 Kissena Blvd, Flushing NY 11367. The public performance is on Saturday, March 11, 8pm. Tickets are $30-$75 and can be purchased online at https://kupferbergcenter.org/event/ira-glass/ or KCA Box Office at (718) 793-8080.

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