Nearly every week during the 1970s – on the night the Village Voice hit newsstands – clusters of women gathered on the newspaper’s steps, eagerly awaiting the latest column by dance critic-turned-lesbian-feminist provocateur, Jill Johnston. In the decade prior Johnston had been the writer who chronicled the emergence of postmodern dance in New York, particularly the West Village’s Judson Church movement, and by the seventies she had become the most prominent voice of lesbian feminism, especially in the wake of her 1973 book, Lesbian Nation.
Though many of her fans still treasure her published writing, searching out dog-eared copies of her 1971 Marmalade Me, Johnston’s prolific writing has been mostly unavailable and underexamined for decades. In recent years, Johnston has staged a return: her writing has appeared in a new collection, academic and popular writers have rediscovered her, and artists in the US and abroad have made art inspired by her writing and lesbian celebrity.
These events honor Jill Johnston’s commitment to experimentation in all things writing, lesbianism, and life – through performance, conversations, film, and more.
Curated by Clare Croft, author of “Jill Johnston in Motion: Dance, Writing, and Lesbian Life” and editor of “The Essential Jill Johnston Reader.”
All events are free and open to the public. RSVP and learn more below. Please note event locations.