Lin-Manuel Miranda and Hamilton: A Book Talk by Daniel Pollack-Pelzner

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Hamilton: A Book Talk by Daniel Pollack-Pelzner
Location: The McCormick Screening Room
Date: October, 8 2025
Time: 5:30 pm PST

Lin-Manual Miranda’s Hamilton, the hit musical about American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton and early American political history premiered in 2015. With its groundbreaking music, performance style, and casting choices, Hamilton, a story of “America then, as told by America now,” according to Miranda, has arguably revolutionized American musicals. Hamilton won many awards, including the Best Musical (Tony Award) and the Best Prize for Drama (Pulitzer Award) in 2016.

In addition to the success of Hamilton (book, lyrics, music, performance), Lin-Manual is also well-known for his Broadway musical In the Heights, a global chart-topping sensation for his songs in Disney’s Moana and Encanto, and other works. However, this MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient (2015), who grew up with Puerto Rican parents in an immigrant neighborhood in New York city, did not start out a musical prodigy. Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, the author of a new book Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist (2025) will discuss Miranda’s life and creative career. We will find out how in the process of becoming an artist, Miranda learned to synthesize his Latino heritage with the pop, hip-hop, and Broadway styles he absorbed in New York City, creating a new way to tell America’s histories. 

Daniel Pollack-Pelzner has written about theater and contemporary culture for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and The New York Times. Born and raised in Oregon, he teaches theater history at Portland State University and is the scholar-in-residence at the Portland Shakespeare Project. He received his B.A. in History from Yale and his Ph.D. in English from Harvard.

Illuminations: The Chancellor's Arts & Culture Initiative | Website | View More Events

Contact the organizers