Wayne Koestenbaum

Wayne Koestenbaum has published over twenty books of poetry, criticism, and fiction, including Ultramarine, The Cheerful Scapegoat, Figure It Out, Camp Marmalade, My 1980s & Other Essays, The Anatomy of Harpo Marx, Humiliation, Hotel Theory, Circus, Andy Warhol, Jackie Under My Skin, and The Queen’s Throat (nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award). He has exhibited his paintings in solo shows at White Columns, 356 Mission, and the University of Kentucky Art Museum, and in many group shows, including at Essex Flowers, Gordon Robichaux, Klaus von Nichtssagend, Yossi Milo Gallery, and the Fashion Institute of Technology. His piano/vocal record, Lounge Act, was released by Ugly Duckling Presse Records; he has given musical performances of his improvisatory Sprechstimme soliloquies at the Hammer Museum, The Kitchen, REDCAT, Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, The Artist’s Institute, the Renaissance Society, and The Poetry Project. His feature-length film, The Collective, premiered at UnionDocs (New York) in 2021. He has received an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, as well as a Whiting Award. Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library acquired his literary archive. He is a Distinguished Professor of English, French, and Comparative Literature at the CUNY Graduate Center.