American writer and theater critic (born 1960)
Hilton Als (born 1960) is an American writer and theater critic. He is a teaching professor at the
University of California, Berkeley ,
[1] an associate professor of writing at
Columbia University
[2] and a staff writer and theater critic for
The New Yorker .
[3] He is a former staff writer for
The Village Voice and former editor-at-large at
Vibe magazine.
In June 2020, Als was named an inaugural Presidential Visiting Scholar at
Princeton University for the 2020–2021 academic year.
[4]
Background and career
Hilton Als was born in New York City, with roots in
Barbados .
[5] Raised in
Brownsville, Brooklyn , he has four older sisters and one younger brother.
[6] He studied toward a bachelor's in art history from
Columbia University .
[7]
His 1996 book The Women
[8] focuses on his mother (who raised him in Brooklyn),
Dorothy Dean , and
Owen Dodson , who was a mentor and lover of Als.
[9]
[10]
[11]
In the book, Als explores his identification of the confluence of his ethnicity, gender and sexuality, moving from identifying as a "Negress" and then an "Auntie Man", a
Barbadian term for homosexuals.
[11] His 2013 book
White Girls continued to explore race, gender, identity in a series of essays about everything from the
AIDS epidemic to
Richard Pryor 's life and work.
Als received a
Guggenheim fellowship in 2000 for creative writing and the 2002–03
George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism.
[12] In 2004 he won the
Berlin Prize of the
American Academy in Berlin , which provided him half a year of free working and studying in
Berlin .
[13]
In addition to Columbia, he has taught at
Smith College ,
Wellesley College ,
Wesleyan University , and
Yale University , and his work has also appeared in
The Nation ,
The Believer , and the
New York Review of Books .
In 2017, he was awarded the
Pulitzer Prize for Criticism : "For bold and original reviews that strove to put stage dramas within a real-world cultural context, particularly the shifting landscape of gender, sexuality and race."
[14]
The Guardian wrote about him a year later: "Since winning his Pulitzer prize for criticism, Hilton Als has risen more visibly to the role of public intellectual, one that he plays particularly well."
[15]
As an art curator, Als has been responsible for exhibitions including the group show Forces in Nature (featuring work by such artists as
Njideka Akunyili Crosby ,
Peter Doig ,
Chris Ofili ,
Celia Paul ,
Tal R ,
Sarah Sze ,
Kara Walker , and
Francesca Woodman ) in 2015,
[16] and most recently an exhibition of work from the
Manhattan years of portraitist
Alice Neel , entitled Alice Neel, Uptown , at
David Zwirner Gallery in New York City and
Victoria Miro Gallery in
London (May 18 – July 29, 2017).
[17]
[18]
[19]
Awards and honors
Bibliography
See also
References
^
Hilton Als faculty page , Department of English, UC Berkeley.
^
Hilton Als faculty page , Columbia University School of the Arts.
^
"Hilton Als" . The New Yorker .
^
"Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Hilton Als named Presidential Visiting Scholar at Princeton" . Princeton University . June 15, 2020. Retrieved June 16, 2020 .
^ Trachtenberg, Peter (November 29, 2013).
"I Am He As You Are He As You Are Me And We Are All Together" . lareviewofbooks.org . Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved April 9, 2021 .
^ Als, Hilton (June 29, 2020).
"My Mother's Dreams for Her Son, and All Black Children" .
The New Yorker . Retrieved April 9, 2021 .
^
"Collecting the Forgotten – Permanent Collection" . permanentcollection.com .
^ Als, Hilton (1996). The Women . United States of America: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
ISBN
978-0374525293 .
^
Fusco, Coco (Winter 1997).
"The Women" . BOMB (58). Archived from
the original on November 10, 2013. Retrieved December 1, 2009 .
^
Lee, Andrea (January 5, 1997).
"Fatal Limitations" .
The New York Times .
^
a
b
Bernstein, Richard (January 1, 1997).
"Feminine Mystique in the Eyes of an 'Auntie Man' " . The New York Times . Retrieved December 1, 2009 .
^ Crawford, Franklin (December 15, 2003).
"Hilton Als, New Yorker critic, wins George Jean Nathan Award" . Cornell Chronicle . Archived from
the original on September 5, 2008. Retrieved September 3, 2014 . .
^
"Hilton Als – Holtzbrinck Fellow, Class of Fall 2004" . American Academy in Berlin. Archived from
the original on June 16, 2012. Retrieved March 10, 2012 .
^
"The 2017 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Criticism | Hilton Als of The New Yorker " , The Pulitzer Prizes.
^ Brockes, Emma (February 2, 2018).
"Hilton Als: 'I had this terrible need to confess, and I still do it. It's a bid to be loved' " . The Guardian . Retrieved May 25, 2023 .
^
"Forces in Nature: Curated by Hilton Als | 13 October – 14 November 2015" , Victoria Miro Gallery II.
^
"Alice Neel, Uptown" , Victoria Miro.
^ Adams, Tim,
"Meet the neighbours: Alice Neel's Harlem portraits" ,
The Observer , April 29, 2017.
^
"Alice Neel, Uptown curated by Hilton Als , David Zwirner.
^
"Announcing the National Book Critics Awards Finalists for Publishing Year 2013" . National Book Critics Circle. January 14, 2014. Archived from
the original on January 15, 2014. Retrieved January 14, 2014 .
^
"Hilton Als" . Windham–Campbell Literature Prize. February 29, 2016. Archived from
the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 2, 2016 .
^
"HILTON ALS WINS THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR CRITICISM" . The New Yorker . April 10, 2017. Retrieved April 10, 2017 .
^
"News: The New Yorker is proud to announce a 2017 Pulitzer Prize for its writing" . x.eml.condenast.com . April 14, 2017. Retrieved April 14, 2017 .
^
"Meet The New School's 2018 Honorary Degree Recipients" . May 17, 2018. Archived from
the original on May 21, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2018 .
^
"Queerty Pride50 2020 Honorees" . Queerty . Retrieved June 30, 2020 .
^ Bull, Chris (July 11, 2020).
"These queer media stars are helping save America from itself" . Queerty . Retrieved August 2, 2020 .
^
"5 Honorary Degrees to Be Presented at 2024 Commencement" .
Syracuse University News . April 19, 2024. Retrieved April 19, 2024 .
External links
International National People Other