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How to Live in a Van and Trespass Across America

Wednesday, October 16th, 2024

Join us for a conversation with author and University at Buffalo alum, Ken Ilgunas on writing, advocacy and adventure:

Oct. 30, 2024, 1:00 p.m., 107 Capen Hall


Ilgunas, who grew up in Western New York, has been an indebted college grad, a trend-setting van dweller, an Alaskan park ranger, a long-distance trespasser, and America’s foremost advocate for the right to roam. Ilgunas will discuss his years at UB and how they inspired him to live a life of advocacy and adventure.

As Ilgunas explains, “I hitchhiked across America, paddled a canoe across Canada, and worked odd jobs alongside all sorts of eccentric people who’d help to shape my worldview. I came to believe that we need both the university and the universe — experiences in work, travel, and everything outside of the academy— to reach our full potential.”

Among his articles and publications are: Walden on Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom (2013) , Trespassing across America : One Man’s Epic, Never-Done-Before (and sort of illegal) Hike across the Heartland (2017), and This Land Is Our Land: How We Lost the Right to Roam and How to Take it Back (2018)

Open to all members of the UB community.

Presented by the University Honors College, University at Buffalo Libraries, UB Department of English and UB Department of History