‘Making art and making political agency matter together’ focus of Collingwood diversity lecture

The advisory group to the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the SUNY Fredonia invites the campus and community to hear renowned poet, novelist, performer and art journalist Eileen Myles at the Collingwood Distinguished Lecture on Diversity.

“Making Art and Making Political Agency Matter Together: An Evening with Eileen Myles” will be held in King Concert Hall on Thursday, Oct. 19, at 3 p.m. The talk is free and open to the public; tickets are not required.

Following the lecture, there will be a book signing by Myles at the University Bookstore from 4:30 to 5:15 p.m.

Myles will lead the audience through a reading tour of their 40-plus years of writing practice, emphasizing the way that a collective political consciousness around sexuality, race, age, non-humanness and dis/ability has evolved, collapsed and reinvented itself with them and around them, always awkwardly and gratifyingly.

Myles’ work has consistently proven that they are a trailblazer who, in the words of the New York Review of Books, “set a bar for openness, frankness, and variability few lives could ever match.”  The Boston Globe has called them “that rare creature, a rock star of poetry,” while the New Yorker deemed Myles “A kick-ass counter-cultural icon.” 

Their publications number more than 20 books, including “Working Life,” “I Must Be Living Twice: New & Selected Poems, Chelsea Girls” (recently reissued) and “Afterglow (a dog memoir).”  Viewers of the Emmy-winning Amazon show “Transparent” are already familiar with their work, as Myles’ poems, and a character based on Myles, appeared in seasons two and three.

Born in Cambridge, MA, Myles has drawn inspiration for their writing from an educational background that included attendance at Catholic schools in Arlington and culminated in graduation from the University of Massachusetts (Boston) in 1971. Traveling to New York City in 1974, their poetic education primarily took place at St. Mark’s Poetry Project from 1975 to 1977, through attending readings and participating in workshops led by Alice Notley, Ted Berrigan, and Paul Violi. From 1984 to 1986, Myles served as the artistic director of St. Mark’s Poetry Project.

From 1977 to 1979 they published dodgems, a poetry magazine that represented a collision of New York school, language poetry, performance texts, and unconventional prose, as well as tossed-off notes from neighbors and celebrities. In 1977, they co-edited the feminist anthology “Ladies Museum,” and in 1979 they worked as an assistant to poet James Schuyler.

As a poet and art journalist, they have contributed to a wide number of publications including Art Forum, The New Yorker, Harpers, Parkett, The Believer, Vice, Cabinet, The Nation, TimeOut, Paris Review, and AnOther Magazine. They often contribute essays to catalogs for major exhibitions such as the Whitney and Liverpool Biennials.

Myles has toured and read all over North America and Europe on and off since the early 1980s. Solo performances include Leaving New York (1989), Life (1991), and Summer in Russia (1996) at Public School No. 122 in New York. Their plays include “Feeling Blue (Parts 1, 2, and 3)” at Modern Art, and “Our Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz,” written for Alina Troyano and produced at P.S. No. 122.

Myles’ work has earned high recognition in many forms; they have received a Guggenheim Fellowship in non-fiction, an Andy Warhol/Creative Capital art writers’ grant, four Lambda Book Awards and the Shelley Prize from the Poetry Society of America. They were named to the Slate/Whiting Second Novel List in 2015 and received a poetry award from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. In 2016 they received a Creative Capital grant and the Clark Prize for excellence in art writing as well as the Lambda Pioneer Award for contributions to the LGBT literary community.

The Collingwood Distinguished Lecture for Diversity is organized by the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to ensure that underrepresented groups’ history and culture are an important part of the Fredonia educational experience. The lecture is intended to reach beyond the campus to surrounding communities and throughout the region and beyond as a means to educate and elevate acceptance of diversity.

Support for the lecture is provided by the Collingwood Distinguished Lecture for Diversity Endowment held at the Fredonia College Foundation.