Anaïs Duplan (born 1992) is a queer and trans[1] Haitian writer now based in the U.S.,[2] with three book publications from Action Books, Black Ocean Press, and Brooklyn Arts Press,[3] along with a chapbook from Monster House Press. His work has been honored by a Whiting Award[4] and a Marian Goodman fellowship from Independent Curators International.[5][6] He is a Professor of postcolonial literature at Bennington College, of which he is also an alum.[7]

Early life and education

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Duplan was born in Jacmel, Haiti.[2] He moved to the United States as a child and grew up in Boston and Brooklyn with his mother.[8] His writing about his father's absence from his childhood and how it impacted his understanding of gender norms was published in The Paris Review,[9] and he discussed his parents' impact on his work in an interview with The Rumpus.[10] He also lived in Cuba for several years.[11] Eventually, after attending Rhode Island School of Design, Duplan graduated from Bennington College in 2014[12] and then the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 2017.[13]

Career

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Duplan's poetry publications include the book Take This Stallion, published in 2016 by Brooklyn Arts Press, which Publishers Weekly wrote in a review "tactfully manages to stir the comical and casual into poems about pain, crippling emotional uncertainty, substance abuse, and death,"[14] and I NEED MUSIC, published in 2021 by Action Books.[3][15] The latter received praise from poets Jericho Brown, Major Jackson, and Shane McCrae,[16] as well as positive reviews from Literary Hub[17] and Make.[18] In 2016 his poem My Heart Like a Needle Ever True Turns to the Maid of Ebon Hue caught the attention of PBS, because of its focus on Civil War spy Mary Bowser.[19] In June 2021, Duplan was the guest editor for the Academy of American Poets's Poem-a-Day series.[20][21]

Duplan's 2017 chapbook, Mount Carmel & the Blood of Parnassus was inspired by his parents and how they have affected his work.[22]

Duplan's first nonfiction book, Blackspace: On the Poetics of an Afrofuture, was published by Black Ocean Press in 2020 after excerpts were published in Ploughshares[23] and Hyperallergic.[24] The nonfiction book discusses the meanings of transition and passing in regard to gender, including the irreversible effects of testosterone therapy.[23] Claudia Rankine listed it as a book she looked forward to reading in an interview with The New York Times,[25] Hanif Abdurraqib called it "futuristic work,"[26] and a review in Colorado Review noted that its style is "as much theoretical as it is journalistic as it is in the style of manifesto."[27] One In 2022, Duplan received a Whiting Award for nonfiction,[10] which NPR noted was a predictor of writers who would go on to become "household names".[6] Duplan's outfit at the award reception caught the attention of Vanity Fair which described it as a "spectacular jumpsuit".[4]

In 2016, Duplan founded the Center for Afrofuturist Studies, an artist residency program[9][28] developed to give artists of color arts space after a fundraiser on Kickstarter.[29] The first artists-in-residence while Duplan served as director were Yulan Grant, Terrence Nance, Krista Franklin.[29] In 2021, the center started new collaborations with Iowa City, including murals, interviews, and performances.[30] While at Iowa, Duplan met Tracie Morris, when they "both presented talks at Columbia University's More Than A Manifesto conference", and she later interviewed him about black sociality, academia, and influences for The Los Angeles Review of Books.[13] Duplan was also interviewed for the New York City Trans Oral History Project, in conjunction with New York Public Library's oral history project.[11] He has been teaching at Bennington College, his alma mater, since 2021.

Since 2022 Duplan had been working as a guest curator at the Museum Folkwang in Essen, Germany. He was responsible for the development of the exhibition chapter on "Afrofuturism" as part of the exhibition "We is Future - Visions of New Communities". The museum terminated the contract around a week before the opening on 24 November 2023 because of his Pro-Palestine posts. The museum justified the move by saying that Duplan had published several anti-Semitic posts on his Instagram account in the preceding weeks. The museum spokesperson cites Duplan's November 10 post calling for support for the BDS[31] movement, as what made them make that decision.[32]

List of Works

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Books

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  • Take This Stallion (Brooklyn Art Press, 2016)
  • Blackspace: On the Poetics of an Afrofuture (Black Ocean, 2020)
  • I NEED MUSIC (Action Books, 2021)

Chapbooks

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  • Mount Carmel and the Blood of Parnassus (Monster House Press, 2017)[33]

Exhibitions

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  • We Turn (curated by danilo machado)[34]
  • Anonymous Donor
  • INNTERDISCPLINE
  • WE IS FUTURE (cancelled)[35]

Honors and Awards

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References

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  1. ^ Cassell, Dessane Lopez (2020-06-15). "Queer Art Workers Reflect: Anaïs Duplan On "Becoming a Better Lover"—Not Just in a Romantic Sense". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  2. ^ a b "Anaïs Duplan". Bennington Review. 30 September 2021. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
  3. ^ a b Duplan, Anaïs (2022-04-06). "Anaïs Duplan, Nonfiction". The Paris Review. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
  4. ^ a b "The Whiting Awards Choose 10 Up-and-Coming Writers Who Don't Shy Away From the Current Moment". Vanity Fair. 2022-04-08. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
  5. ^ "Announcing the winners of the 2022 Whiting Awards". Literary Hub. 2022-04-06. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
  6. ^ a b O'Reilly, Fi (2022-04-06). "2022 Whiting Awards celebrate 10 emerging writers". NPR. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
  7. ^ "about — Anaïs Duplan". worksofanais.com. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  8. ^ Angelos, Ayla (2022-04-04). "Music is a Vehicle for Perceiving". PORT Magazine. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
  9. ^ a b Duplan, Anaïs (2022-04-06). "Anaïs Duplan, Nonfiction". The Paris Review. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  10. ^ a b Gibbel, Katherine (2017-11-09). "The Rumpus Mini Interview #109: Anaïs Duplan". The Rumpus.net. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  11. ^ a b W., Xtian (June 18, 2019). "NEW YORK CITY TRANS ORAL HISTORY PROJECT" (PDF).
  12. ^ "| Bennington College". www.bennington.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
  13. ^ a b Morris, Tracie (2021-01-09). "Change of Perspective: A Conversation with Anaïs Duplan". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
  14. ^ "Take This Stallion by Anais Duplan". www.publishersweekly.com. 2016-06-01. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  15. ^ Cassell, Dessane Lopez (2020-06-15). "Queer Art Workers Reflect: Anaïs Duplan On "Becoming a Better Lover"—Not Just in a Romantic Sense". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  16. ^ "Anaïs Duplan, I Need Music". Action Books. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  17. ^ Duplan, Anaïs (2016-08-24). "The Body is Alive and Awake, the Spirit a Decision Problem". Literary Hub. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  18. ^ Murillo III, John (17 April 2021). "Review: Blackspace by Anaïs Duplan". MAKE Literary Magazine. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  19. ^ "Poet delves into a Civil War spy's hidden history". PBS NewsHour. 2016-04-18. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  20. ^ Poets, Academy of American. "About Anaïs Duplan | Academy of American Poets". poets.org. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  21. ^ Poets, Academy of American. "June 2021 Poem-a-Day Guest Editor Anaïs Duplan | poets.org". poets.org. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  22. ^ Gibbel, Katherine (2017-11-09). "The Rumpus Mini Interview #109: Anaïs Duplan". The Rumpus. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  23. ^ a b "Blackspace: On the Poetics of an Afrofuture". blog.pshares.org. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  24. ^ Duplan, Anaïs (2020-11-12). "Making Use of the Mundane: Black Performance & Becoming". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  25. ^ Tamaki, Jillian (2020-11-26). "Claudia Rankine Wishes More Writers Thought About Whiteness". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  26. ^ Skylight Books. "Skylit: Anaïs Duplan, Kelly Schirmann & Stacey Tran read from their new books". Crowdcast. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  27. ^ "Blackspace: On the Poetics of an Afrofuture". Center for Literary Publishing. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  28. ^ "Creating art while empowering artists". This is UIowa. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  29. ^ a b Dunne, Carey (2016-03-09). "Space (or Iowa City) Is the Place: Inside the New Center for Afrofuturist Studies". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  30. ^ Hartel, Mary (February 14, 2021). "Center for Afrofuturist Studies strives to uplift Black voices across various platforms". The Daily Iowan. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  31. ^ "WIR IST ZUKUNFT | Museum Folkwang". 23 November 2023.
  32. ^ Nayyar, Rhea (2023-11-15). "German Museum Cancels Afrofuturism Show Over Curator's Pro-Palestine Posts". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  33. ^ "Anaïs Duplan | The Loft Literary Center". loft.org. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  34. ^ "We turn". EFA Project Space. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  35. ^ "We is Future | Museum Folkwang". www.museum-folkwang.de. 2023-11-23. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  36. ^ "| Anaïs Duplan". QUEER | ART. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  37. ^ "2021 Marian Goodman Gallery Initiative Fellowships - Independent Curators International". curatorsintl.org. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  38. ^ "Anaïs Duplan". www.whiting.org. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  39. ^ "Instagram and the Brooklyn Museum Award Black Visionaries for 2022 | Instagram Blog". about.instagram.com. Retrieved 2024-05-07.