The mood at the Thirtieth Annual Publishing Triangle Awards ceremony was jubilantly defiant. Trent Duffy cheerfully reminded us of how far the Publishing Triangle has come. He pointed out that Edmund White was the first Bill Whitehead Lifetime Achievement Award winner. The prize he received–one thousand dollars–was given to him in an envelope filled with cash. In the comfortable surroundings of the New School’s Tishman Auditorium, it seemed somehow amazing that this organization had such humble beginnings. And yet, as award recipient, Malaga Baldi, observed, The Publishing Triangle had several great writers associated with it from the very start.
Sarah Perry gave an eloquent speech, accepting her Betty Burzon Emerging Writer Award–observing that “there is grace in the use of the present continuous.” And it was impossible not to get caught up in the enthusiasm for Trap Door–this year’s Trans and Gender Variant Award winner. But undeniably, the high point of the night was Sarah Schulman’s speech–accepting the Bill Whitehead Lifetime Achievement Award. It was the rarest of acceptance speeches. Ms. Schulman held the packed auditorium enthralled by the sheer force of her ideas. It was, at once, brilliant and and fearlessly iconoclastic.
Some highlights:
Sexism, of course is everywhere, but even more importantly, point of view is the most strictly enforced element of any work of art accepted for public display by private entities. Within a few minutes of walking into a room I can tell you who allows themselves to notice lesbian work and who does not, because one person says, “Sarah you’re doing so much!” and another says, “So Sarah, what do you do?” It is this disappearance in plain sight that speaks in some ways to the state of our literature.
Unfortunately there is absolutely no relationship between quality and reward and I say this as a person who has been rewarded and at other times eliminated. Most art that is rewarded in an unjust society is work that reinforces that society’s operative values.
Some of you are aware that Alisa Solomon wrote a piece in American Theater of three white gay male classic plays that were revived this season. Why?… When we were told by the media that these plays are necessary and important right now–when they are not–we need to understand this as an obstacle to LGBT literature… While the coverage of Angels of America told us this over and over again that this revival is necessary and relevant without ever telling us exactly why, they never mention that black gay men in the US south have higher rates of HIV than any country in the world. This is an obstacle to LGBT literature.
For those who were expecting a thought-provoking speech, Ms. Schulman did not disappoint.
Click here for a complete list of the Publishing Triangle nominees and winners.
4/18/2018