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Steven Reigns

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Steven Reigns
Born (1975-11-11) 11 November 1975 (age 49)
St. Louis, Missouri, US
OccupationPoet, educator
NationalityAmerican
Alma materThe University of South Florida
Antioch University
Period21st century
Genrepoetry
Notable worksA Quilt For David, Inheritance, The Gay Rub, In The Room, 3-Pack Jack
Notable awardsLos Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs Artist in Residency Grant for 2007, 2009, 2011-2015; City of Los Angeles Individual Artist Fellowship 2020; City Poet of West Hollywood 2014-2016

Steven Reigns (born 1975) is an American poet, artist and activist known for his poetry publications, his work as West Hollywood's first City Poet, his participatory art projects, his LGBT activism, and his scholarly work on Anaïs Nin.[1]

Biography

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Early years

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Reigns grew up in the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri. From an early age, he sought refuge from a troubled home life in local libraries where he discovered the writers who would have a huge impact on his own work: Sapphire, Essex Hemphill, Dorothy Allison, Edmund White, Anaïs Nin, Amy Scholder, John Preston and Audre Lorde.

Career

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Reigns graduated from the University of South Florida, where he wrote a bi-monthly column for TLW magazine, with a degree in Creative Writing. He also has a Masters in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University.[2]

Reigns is a fourteen-time recipient of the Los Angeles County Department of Cultural Affairs' Artist in Residency Grant.[3] He was elected as West Hollywood's inaugural City Poet for a two-year term beginning in October 2014.[4] He was selected as "Someone to Watch in 2015" by The Advocate Magazine.[5] Reigns was selected for a City of Los Angeles Individual Artist Fellowship in 2020.[6]

Library activism

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Reigns has cited public libraries and librarians as a major influence on his development as an artist and activist. He has campaigned in support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and queer programming in libraries.

In 2004 he organized 'Loving in Fear', an LGBQT literary event in response to Hillsborough County's lack of gay, lesbian, bisexual or queer programming.[7] He recounted the experience in a Watermark Magazine article about National Library Week.[8] He was the first to speak to the commissioners about their discriminatory policy at the library.[9]

He was Literary Director for The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Center of Tampa for two years.[10]

Reigns has been keynote speaker at Rollins College,[11] Stonewall Library,[12] and at the American Library Associations Annual Breakfast.[13] He facilitates the monthly Lambda Literary Foundation Book Club.[14]

HIV/AIDS activism

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Reigns worked as a certified (in Florida and California) HIV test counselor for over 10 years, testing more than 9000 people.[15] He contributed to a panel with Los Angeles County on standards of care for HIV. In 2011, he ran a support group that utilized film as a projective tool at Being Alive.[16]

In 2012, he published an essay in Frontiers Magazine on the need for new AIDS narratives in cinema and literature.[17] He published a poem about the so-called AIDS "Patient Zero" Gaëtan Dugas[18][19] and in 2018 hosted an event at West Hollywood Council Chambers discussing Dugas’ legacy.[20]

Reigns participated in a staged conversation about Keith Haring with Ann Magnuson at The Broad for World AIDS Day 2022.[21]

Artistic projects

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The Gay Rub

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Main article: The Gay Rub

Reigns created The Gay Rub, a participatory art project in 2011 and has curated the project ever since.[22] The Gay Rub is a collection of rubbings taken from historically significant LGBTQ public markers, memorials, and monuments. Participants from around the world contribute rubbings of markers from their home city, along with commentary. There are currently more than 200 rubbings in the collection, which has toured major universities. The collection is the subject of The Gay Rub: A Documentary (2018) by Michael J. Saul.

Other art projects

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Reigns has participated in several collaborative online projects, such as Heather Champs' Mirror Project[23] and Anni Holm's Getting My Name Out There.[24] He was also a character in Hilary Goldberg's In The Spotlight.

His artwork has been shown in galleries throughout the U.S.A including at The Advocate gallery part of Rainbow Gobblins exhibit in May 2007.[25]

From 2007 to 2014, Reigns undertook a 7 years living/art project under the mentorship of Linda Montano,[26] S(t)even Years.

Audio-visual media

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Reigns and his work have been featured in a variety of other media, including:

  • Cameo appearances as a "homo hommie" in Jonny McGovern's video Dickmatized [27] and as a partier in Texting on the Dance Floor [28]
  • Co-host of IMRU Radio, the nations longest running LGBT radio show [29] With some of his segments airing nationally on This Way Out[30]
  • Dean Littner directed a 64 min documentary on the My Life is Poetry Class [31][32]
  • His poem Domicilium [33] was put to music and performed by One Voice Chorus in North Carolina [34]
  • Two poems by Reigns are used in Hunter Lee Hughes' black-and-white feature film Guys Reading Poems.[35] Reigns is only one of two living poets whose work was used in the film. Recipe Box and Put Your Head on my Shoulder, both from his second collection Inheritance, are featured in the film[36][37]
  • Lines from Reigns’ poem Morning, West Hollywood were incorporated into vinyl art banners hung in the West Hollywood City Hall Community Plaza in 2016.[38] Reigns collaborated with artist MONCHO1929 for this project
  • Reigns was featured in Jenny Holzer’s SPEECH ITSELF (2022), a series of large-scale projections on the facades of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, 610 Fifth Avenue, and 620 Fifth Avenue. SPEECH ITSELF marked the centenary of PEN America.[39]
  • Reigns contributed a poem to 'Poetry Walk', a public art installation running from April 2023 to August 2024, presented by the City of West Hollywood [40]
  • Reigns was featured as a spoken word artist, alongside Justin Torres, winner of the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction, at The Broad's Smog Check event on 25 January 2024 [41]
  • Reigns conceived an electronic billboard project, featuring West Hollywood's poet laureates, which ran at West Hollywood Gateway during April, 2024, to celebrate National Poetry Month [42]

Scholarly work

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Reigns is an Anaïs Nin scholar[43] and has presented at The Sapphire Symposium.[44] He is President of the Board of the Anaïs Nin Foundation.[45]

Anaïs Nin Scholarship

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Reigns discovered Nin’s writing at the age of sixteen and her work has had a profound influence on his career.[46] In February 2008, Reigns organized ‘Anaïs Nin@105’ at the Hammer Museum.[47] Reigns said, "Nin bonded and formed very deep friendships with women and men decades younger than her. Some of them are still living in Los Angeles and I thought it'd be wonderful to have them share their experiences with (Nin)."[48] Electronic musician Bebe Barron, who was championed by Nin early in her career, made her last public appearance at ‘Anaïs Nin@105’. Reigns spoke at Barron's memorial.[49]

Reigns combed through Nin's original diaries to investigate the validity of Bern Porter's claims of his sexual relationship in the 1930s with Anaïs Nin, which were published as a series of interviews in the 1990s. Reigns' essay refuting Porter's claims, Bern Porter's Wild Sexual Life with Anais Nin or Wild Imaginings? was published in Café in Space and Thinking of Anaïs Nin.[50][51]

Reigns' poem 'Anaïs Nin Never Bought a Car' was published in Divining Divas: 100 Gay Poets on Their Muses (2012).[52]

Reigns facilitated the 2010 re-release of a long out-of-circulation audio book by Nin. Reigns loaned his rare 1949 pink vinyl version of Nin reading her prose poem House of Incest, recorded by Louis and Bebe Barron, to their son Adam Barron. Adam Barron used it as the basis for a CD release.[53]

Reigns owns a large collection of Nin memorabilia and ephemera, including a copy of Marcel Proust's Albertine disparue, once owned by Nin.[54] In the book are lines underlined by Henry Miller with notes written in the margin by both Nin and Miller.[54]

Reigns organized and curated Anais Nin's Influence: Women who Knew Nin Talk About her Writing, Her Life and Their Friendship with Her at the West Hollywood Library in 2015.[55][56] Reigns said of Nin and the event: "The struggles of life, love, and artistry Nin documented in detail daily. Her life and writings are more relevant now than ever. Hearing firsthand from women who knew Nin is an exceptional experience."[57]

In January 2016, Reigns co-produced an event at Antioch University Santa Barbara, The Allure of Anaïs Nin.[58]

Teaching

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Reigns has taught writing workshops throughout his career. He began by teaching to LGBT youth groups across the United States,[59] followed by workshops for HIV+ people,.[60] He has taught poetry to LGBT Seniors at Los Angeles LGBT Center for many years. This workshop My Life is Poetry was the first of its kind in the country and resulted in a book of the students' writings edited by Reigns.[61] As part of his tenure as West Hollywood City Poet, he taught free writing workshops for National Poetry Month in West Hollywood, CA.[4] Filmmaker Dean Littner made a documentary about the 2013 My Life Is Poetry reading by Reigns' students.[32]

Publications

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A Quilt For David

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A Quilt for David (City Lights Books, 2021) ISBN 9780872868816[62]

A Quilt For David explores the life of Florida dentist David J. Acer, who in 1990 was accused of infecting a patient (Kimberly Bergalis) with HIV. Reigns describes the work as “investigative poetry” as it is based on extensive research, conducted between 2012 and 2020,[63] into Acer’s life and death, including interviews with those who knew him, as it played out against the AIDS hysteria of the late 1980s and early 1990s. In his poetry, Reigns challenges the media narrative of the time, which was that Acer infected his patients deliberately.[64]

Other poetry publications

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Reigns has published two other books of poetry.

  • Your Dead Body is My Welcome Mat (2001) ISBN 0-9714393-1-1[65]
  • Inheritance (2011) ISBN 978-0-9832931-2-5[66][67]

Inheritance was selected by Lambda Literary Foundation's My Story Book Club.[68][69]

Reigns has also published chapbooks:

His poetry is included in Velvet Mafia, a poetry chapbook on gay and lesbian response to war, Outside the Green Zone. Reigns was featured as Mr. November in the Most Intriguing and Sensual Male Poet Calendar(2006).

In June 2008, Reigns edited the anthology My Life is Poetry, a book of autobiographical poetry by gay, lesbian, and bisexual seniors created by those attending his workshops of the same name. The poems are accompanied by photographic portraits by Jenny Walters. The preface was written by Dorothy Allison.[70]

In July 2015, Reigns edited 3-Pack Jack, a three book set based on his 2013 curation of the Apt3F performance series at Akbar, Los Angeles.[71]

Other work

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  • Reigns wrote an article in defense of transgender writer and activist Kate Bornstein[72]
  • Reigns' short storyOn These Sheets is included in the Foolish Hearts anthology[73] a Rainbow Book Finalist[73][74][75]

Reigns' papers are held by the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives at USC Libraries.[76]

References

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  1. ^ "Steven Reigns". Steven Reigns.
  2. ^ "Get More Gay: Queer Artist Centerfold: Steven Reigns". 17 April 2011.
  3. ^ "City of LA Artist Grants". cultural.org. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  4. ^ a b "City of West Hollywood : City Poet". Archived from the original on 29 June 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  5. ^ "People to Watch in 2015". www.advocate.com. 2 January 2015.
  6. ^ Dambrot, Shana Nys (9 July 2020). "COLA 2020 Puts the Focus on the Artists". LA Weekly. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  7. ^ "Citytimes: Literary showcase honors gay authors". Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  8. ^ "Watermark Online – Florida's Distinctive Gay & Lesbian Publication". Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  9. ^ "Archived copy". geocities.com. Archived from the original on 27 October 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. ^ "Velvet Mafia's Hit List – Contributor's Bios Issue 17". Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  11. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 21 August 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. ^ "Site Disabled - FreeServers". Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 8 June 2007.
  13. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 November 2014. Retrieved 27 November 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. ^ Foundation, Poetry (13 December 2022). "Steven Reigns". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  15. ^ "Filling In The Missing Patchwork: A Conversation With Steven Reigns - The Rumpus.net". therumpus.net. December 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  16. ^ "APLA in WeHo: Weekly Event Uses Cinema to Foster Connections among Men Living with HIV/AIDS". Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  17. ^ "The Continuing AIDS Narrative - Frontiers Media". www.frontiersmedia.com. Archived from the original on 15 September 2015.
  18. ^ "READ: Poems From West Hollywood's First Poet Laureate, Steven Reigns". www.advocate.com. 12 September 2014.
  19. ^ "Steven Reigns reads Gaetan Dugas - Video Dailymotion". Archived from the original on 8 December 2015.
  20. ^ "Q&A: Steven Reigns on Discussing 'Patient Zero and the Making of the AIDS Epidemic' with Author Richard A. McKay - WEHO TIMES West Hollywood News, Nightlife and Events". 5 May 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  21. ^ "World AIDS Day: Ann Magnuson + Steven Reigns | The Broad". www.thebroad.org. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  22. ^ "PHOTOS: In 'The Gay Rub,' Artist Shows Imprints of LGBT History". www.outtraveler.com. 29 January 2014.
  23. ^ "The Mirror Project | Steven Reigns | Valentine's Day | Ft. Lauderdale, Alligator Ally". www.mirrorproject.com.
  24. ^ Holm, Anni (27 November 2006). "Web Biennial 2007 - Anni Holm - Getting My Name Out There: Steven Reigns, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, USA".
  25. ^ "Transgender Tapestry 106 Summer 2004 :: Transgender Tapestry & the International Foundation for Gender Education :: Promoting Acceptance for Transgender People". Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 23 January 2009.
  26. ^ "Linda Mary Montano | Home". wayback.archive-it.org. Archived from the original on 22 October 2018.
  27. ^ "Jonny McGovern "Dickmatized"". 12 December 2011. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021 – via YouTube.
  28. ^ Taxonomy nextmagazine.com
  29. ^ "RIght now on IMRU Radio on KPFK 90.7 FM poet Collin Kelley with WeHo Poet Laureate Steven Reigns. Tune in! | Why Leave WeHo?! | do. Everything. Local". Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  30. ^ "Yahoo! Groups". groups.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2001.
  31. ^ "My Life is Poetry" – via www.imdb.com.
  32. ^ a b "Gay Seniors Transform Their Most Personal Stories Into Art". www.queerty.com. 30 August 2014.
  33. ^ "Domicilium - A Poem by Gay Poet Steven Reigns Is Set To Music and Performed by the One Voice Charlotte Choir". Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  34. ^ "One Voice Chorus Concert Block 8A :: Shop :: Choir :: Tresona Multimedia". www.tresonamultimedia.com.
  35. ^ "Guys Reading Poems" – via www.imdb.com.
  36. ^ "Steven Reigns | Guys Reading Poems".
  37. ^ "WATCH: Hot Guys Reading Poems". Advocate.com. 25 March 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  38. ^ "Suspended Motion (MONCHO1929 & Steven Reigns) | City of West Hollywood". www.weho.org. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  39. ^ Schuessler, Jennifer (13 September 2022). "At PEN America, a Complicated Centennial for Free Speech". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  40. ^ "Poetry Walk". weho.org. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  41. ^ "Smog Check at The Broad: LA writers, musicians comment on environmental issues". www.ladowntownnews.com. 15 January 2024. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  42. ^ "West Hollywood Gateway Showcases Five City Poet Laureates for National Poetry Month". 30 March 2024. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  43. ^ "What's New". Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  44. ^ ASU Department of English Special Feature
  45. ^ "The Anais Nin Foundation". Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  46. ^ Mui, Sandy (16 September 2021). "The PEN Ten: An Interview with Steven Reigns". PEN America. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  47. ^ "Anaïs Nin | Hammer Museum". hammer.ucla.edu. 12 February 2008. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  48. ^ "The Daily Bruin - Writer garners personal praise". Archived from the original on 24 May 2008. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  49. ^ "Steven Reigns @ Bebe Barron's Memorial". 10 August 2008. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021 – via YouTube.
  50. ^ A Cafe in Space: The Anais Nin Literary Journal, Volume 10. February 6, 2013). 6 February 2013.
  51. ^ "Thinking of Anais Nin: I Pursue Her Still: Bern Porter on Anais Nin". Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  52. ^ Montlack, Michael (21 May 2012). Divining Divas: 100 Gay Poets on Their Muses. Lethe Press. ISBN 9781590213834 – via Google Books.
  53. ^ "steven reigns : The Official Anais Nin Blog".
  54. ^ a b "Cosmodemonic Telegraph Company: A Henry Miller Blog: July 2012". Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  55. ^ "The PRA Presents: ANAIS Nin's INFLUENCE: WOMEN WHO KNEW NIN". Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  56. ^ "Calendar of Events | City of West Hollywood". www.weho.org. 28 March 2015.
  57. ^ "Anais Nin's Influence: Women Who Knew Nin, On Her Writing, Life & Their Friendship". The WOW Report. 26 March 2015.
  58. ^ Writers series antiochsb.edu [dead link‍]
  59. ^ "Write Now: A GLBTQ Youth Writing Workshop | Steven Reigns :: Poet, Artist, Educator". Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  60. ^ Needle, Chael. "Steven Reigns | A&U Magazine".
  61. ^ "Trailer - My Life is Poetry with Steven Reigns". YouTube. 7 April 2012.
  62. ^ Reigns, Steven (8 September 2021). A Quilt for David. City Lights Publishers. ISBN 978-0872868816.
  63. ^ Reigns, Steven (20 September 2021). "Telling the Real Story Behind the AIDS Panic in a Small Florida Town". LitHub.com. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  64. ^ "A New Book Reconsiders the Early '90s Dentist Accused of Transmitting HIV to His Patients". 14 September 2021.
  65. ^ "Words On The Streets: City Poet Steven Reigns". LitReactor.
  66. ^ Press, Sibling Rivalry. "Inheritance by Steven Reigns". Sibling Rivalry Press.
  67. ^ Inheritance was praised as "an unadorned picture of a troubled childhood made all the more powerful by his use of simple, direct language and an economy of words that draws aside the curtain of metaphor and puts these episodes into the dangerous language of reality".
  68. ^ "My Story Book Club - Inheritance: Online chat with Steven Reigns Showing 1-20 of 20". www.goodreads.com.
  69. ^ "My Story Book Club". Goodreads.
  70. ^ "..:: Frontiers Magazine ::.. ..:: Naked City ::". Archived from the original on 20 November 2008. Retrieved 23 January 2009.
  71. ^ "Save the Date: This Saturday July 11th 3-6PM". The WOW Report. 8 July 2015.
  72. ^ Reigns, Steven (21 September 2011). "Hello, Cruel World: Kate Bornstein, Internet Hate and the Safety of Books". Lambda Literary.
  73. ^ a b BWW News Desk. "Cleis Press Announces Two Rainbow Book Award Finalists". BroadwayWorld.com.
  74. ^ Reviews, Indie (22 February 2014). "Foolish Hearts: New Gay Fiction by editors Timothy J. Lambert and R.D. Cochrane".
  75. ^ "Book Chic: Foolish Hearts edited by Timothy J. Lambert and R.D. Cochrane". 17 February 2014."On These Sheets is almost flash-fiction, it's so short, but it's a very sweet story and Reigns does a great job painting this relationship in such a short amount of pages. It just works so well."
  76. ^ "Finding aid to the Steven Reigns papers, bulk 2000-2010 Coll2013.099". oac.cdlib.org. Retrieved 13 December 2023.

See also

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