"I read Als not only because he is utterly extraordinary, which he is, but for the reason one is often drawn to the best writers—because one has a sense that one's life might depend on them. White Girls is a book, a dream, an enemy, a friend, and, yes, the read of the year." Junot Díaz

Hilton Als

Hilton Als became a staff writer at The New Yorker in 1996, a theatre critic in 2002, and chief theatre critic in 2013. He began contributing to the magazine in 1989, writing pieces for The Talk of the Town. Before coming to The New Yorker, Als was a staff writer for the Village Voice and an editor-at-large at Vibe. He has also written articles for The Nation, The Believer, and The New York Review of Books, and collaborated on film scripts for Swoon and Looking for Langston.

His first book, The Women, a meditation on gender, race, and personal identity, was published in 1996. His most recent book, White Girls, discusses various narratives around race and gender and was nominated for a 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism.

In 1997, the New York Association of Black Journalists awarded Als first prize in both Magazine Critique/Review and Magazine Arts and Entertainment. He was awarded a Guggenheim for Creative Writing in 2000 and the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism for 2002-03. In 2009, Als worked with the performer Justin Bond on “Cold Water,” an exhibition of paintings, drawings, and videos by performers, at La MaMa Gallery. In 2010, he co-curated “Self-Consciousness” at the Veneklasen Werner Gallery in Berlin, and published “Justin Bond/Jackie Curtis,” his second book. In 2014 he wrote the catalogue essay for “Robert Gober: The Heart is Not a Metaphor” at the Museum of Modern Art.

Als has taught at Wesleyan, Wellesley, Smith, and the Yale School of Drama. He lives in New York City.

Image: Hilton Als photo by Brigitte Lacombe

The Graduate Art Seminar lecture series is a forum for graduate students, members of the ArtCenter community and the general public to enter into dialog with internationally recognized artists, critics, and art historians. The Seminar—coordinated during the Spring term by faculty member Jack Bankowsky—is a core component of ArtCenter’s Graduate Art program.