How to Be Alone with The Millions

I interviewed Tanya Davis about her latest collaboration with Andrea Dorfman, an illustrated book of the poem, How to Be Alone.The complete interview is up on The Millions, but here is a little taste.__TM: Did you expect the response to “How to Be Alone” — six million views on YouTube and a book?TD: Not at all. The video was funded by Bravo, so they had the rights to screen it first. It made the rounds at festivals. After about a year, we could do whatever we wanted with it. Andrea texted me one day and said, “I’m going to put it up on YouTube”. I said, “Okay,” and then we went on with our days. Neither of us expected the response.TM: You gave it away for free?TD: We share a philosophy of art, which is that we make it to give it away. Of course we also want to make income and be able to support ourselves, but I don’t want to keep my ideas in my head. We set it free. If you let go of something, it can end up coming back to you in ways you never thought.