Performers
Location
About
4:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 7
Conversation / Q&A
Multi-Purpose Room - Campus Center West Addition
University at Albany
1400 Washington Avenue
Albany, NY 12222
Tom Junod, celebrated magazine journalist, UAlbany graduate (Class of 1980), and winner of two National Magazine Awards, will present his new memoir, In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man (2026).
The book explores his relationship with his father, "Big Lou" Junod, a traveling handbag salesman "who dominated every room he entered, worshipped the sun and the sea, his own bronzed body, Frank Sinatra, and beautiful women." Junod disentangles his memories and feelings about a charismatic, philandering father who tried to mold his son in his image, the many secrets he hid, and ultimately, the true meaning of manhood. Ayad Akhtar called it, "a deeply affecting search for truth, as brave as it is beautiful."