Eileen Myles

Eileen Myles (b. 1949, they/them) is a poet, novelist and art journalist whose practice of vernacular first-person writing has has made them one of the most recognized writers of their generation. Pathetic Literature, which they edited, came out in Fall of 22. Their newest collection of poems, a “Working Life”, is out now. Their fiction includes Chelsea Girls (1994) which just won France’s Inrockuptibles Prize for best foreign novel, Cool for You (2000), Inferno (a poet’s novel) (2010) and Afterglow (2017). Writing on art was gathered in the volume The Importance of Being Iceland: Travel Essays in Art (2009). Books of poetry include Evolution (2018) and I Must Be Living Twice: New and Selected Poems 1975-2014. Their super-8 road film “The Trip” is on YouTube. They live in New York & in Marfa, TX.

Eileen Myles (b. 1949) is a poet, novelist and art journalist whose practice of vernacular first-person writing has become a touchstone for the identity-fluid internet age. Pathetic Literature, which they edited, came out in Fall of 22. Their newest collection of poems, a “Working Life”, is out now. Their fiction includes Chelsea Girls (1994), Cool for You (2000), Inferno (a poet’s novel) (2010) and Afterglow (2017). Writing on art was gathered in the volume The Importance of Being Iceland: Travel Essays in Art (2009). Books of poetry include Evolution (2018) and I Must Be Living Twice: New and Selected Poems 1975-2014 and in Spring 2023 a “Working Life” will be released upon the world. They also take pictures which they’ve shown in New York at Bridget Donahue & in Provincetown at Schoolhouse Gallery. Their super-8 road film “The Trip” is easily seen on YouTube.

They graduated from U. Mass (Boston) in 1971. Their poetic education mainly took place at St. Mark’s Poetry Project from 1975 to 1977, attending almost every single reading for ten years and participating in workshops led by Alice Notley, Ted Berrigan, Bill Zavatsky and Paul Violi. From 1984 to 1986 Eileen was the artistic director of St. Mark’s Poetry Project.

From 1977 to 1979 they published dodgems, a poetry magazine that published everyone and they worked as assistant to poet James Schuyler in 1979 while he was living in the Chelsea Hotel.

In the 80s and 90s they worked on a number of collaborative and individual theater projects. Feminist and extremely queer. Joan of Arc, a spiritual entertainment and Patriarchy (a play) were both performed (once) at St. Mark’s Church. Leaving New York, a solo performance piece and Feeling Blue Pts. 1, 2 & 3 and Modern Art, written and directed by Eileen Myles, were produced at PS 122. In 2004, Myles wrote the libretto for the opera Hell, composed by Michael Webster with productions in 2004 and 2006. In 2010, they created and directed for the Dia Center for the Arts a performance piece, The Collection of Silence, which involved dancers, poets, kids, visual artists, and Buddhists in a collective public act of silence at the Hispanic Society in New York.

Myles has contributed poems and other writing and photos to many publications including The Atlantic, New York Review of Books, BookForum, ArtForum, Art in America, The New Yorker, Harpers, The Believer, Vice, Poetry, Dazed and Confused, The New York Times, The Nation, The New Republic, Playboy, New York Magazine, Earth’s Daughters, The Recluse, and The Poetry Project Newsletter. They’ve been profiled and reviewed in many of these same publications. They’ve written catalog essays on Tabboo! Nan Goldin, Carolee Schneeman, Stephane Mandelbaum, Justin Kimball, Moyra Davy and Peter Hujar, Nicole Eisenman, Kelly Reichardt, Dani & Sheila ReStack, Jess Perlitz, Donald Judd, Susanna Coffey, Kathy Bradford, Martha Diamond, Shannon Ebner, Marilyn Minter, Sal Randolph, Zoe Leonard, Cathy Opie, Paul Thek, Jack Pierson and many others. Probably most significantly they’ve read their poems, spoken and presented their work in festivals, at colleges and galleries, museums and bookstores and cafes and parks all over North America, South America, Europe, Iceland, Australia, and New Zealand since the early 1980s. Notably they toured nationally in a van with Sister Spit in ‘97 and 2007. Most of their books are on audible, read by them and it’s their favorite way of being received next to live.

Eileen Myles has received a Guggenheim, a Warhol/Creative Capital Arts Writers grant, 3 Lambda Book Awards and a “Pioneer” lifetime achievement award, the Shelley Prize from the PSA, and an award from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. In 2016, they received a Creative Capital grant and the Clark Prize for excellence in art writing. In 2019 they received a poetry award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters. In 2020 they got the Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Publishing Triangle and in 2022 was inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Letters. They live in New York City and Marfa, TX with a pit bull named Honey.