Wikipedia

Patricia Lockwood

For the politician, see Patricia A. Lockwood.

Patricia Lockwood (born April 27, 1982) is an American poet, novelist, and essayist. Beginning a career in poetry, her collections include Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals, a 2014 New York Times Notable Book. Later prose works received more exposure and notoriety. She is a multiple award winner: her 2017 memoir Priestdaddy won the Thurber Prize for American Humor and her 2021 debut novel, No One Is Talking About This, won the Dylan Thomas Prize. In addition to her writing activities, she has been a contributing editor for the London Review of Books since 2019 .

Patricia Lockwood
A caucasian woman with short hair lecturing at a podium
Lockwood in 2014
Born (1982-04-27) April 27, 1982 (age 42)
Fort Wayne, Indiana U.S.
OccupationWriter
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
Period2004–present
Notable works"Rape Joke", Priestdaddy, No One Is Talking About This
Notable awardsThurber Prize for American Humor
2018 Priestdaddy

She is notable for working across a variety of genres. "Your work can flow into the shape that people make for you," she told Slate in an interview in 2020. "Or you can try to break that shape."[1] In 2022, she received the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Morton Dauwen Zabel Award for her contributions to the field of experimental writing.[2]

Lockwood is the only writer with both fiction and nonfiction works selected as the 10 Best Books of the Year by The New York Times. At four years, she also holds the record for the shortest span between repeat appearances on the list.[3]

Kirkus Reviews has called her "our guide to moving beyond thinking of the internet as a thing apart from real lives and real art," and Garden & Gun: "goddess of the avant-garde."[4]

Life and career

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1982–2011: Early years

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Lockwood was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana.[5] She has four siblings.[6] Her father Greg Lockwood found religion while serving as a seaman on a nuclear submarine in the Cold War. His conversion first led him to the Lutheran Church, then to its ministry, and finally to Roman Catholicism.[7] In 1984, he asked ordination as a married Catholic priest from then St. Louis Archbishop John L. May under a special pastoral provision issued by Pope John Paul II in 1980. Lockwood therefore had the rare experience of growing up in a Catholic rectory, as part of a traditional American nuclear family, but with a priest as a father.[8] Lockwood grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and Cincinnati, Ohio,[9] attending parochial schools there, but never went to college.[10] She is a 2000 YoungArts alumnus.[11]

Lockwood is married to Jason Kendall, "a journalist, designer, and editor."[12] "She married at 21, has scarcely ever held a job and, by her telling, seems to have spent her adult life in a Proustian attitude, writing for hours each day from her 'desk-bed'," according to a profile in The New York Times Magazine.[13] During that period, from 2004 to 2011, Lockwood's poems began to appear widely in magazines including The New Yorker, Poetry, and the London Review of Books.

2011–2017: Twitter and poetry collections

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In 2011, Lockwood joined Twitter and drew attention there for her comedy and poetics, including the ironic "sext" form she originated,[14] her association with the Weird Twitter movement,[15] and her devoted following. The Atlantic named Lockwood to its list of "The Best Tweets of All Time", where she was the only author included twice.[16] In response to Lockwood's popular tweet ".@parisreview So is paris any good or not," The Paris Review has twice issued reviews of Paris.[17][18]

In 2012, small press Octopus Books published Lockwood's first poetry collection, Balloon Pop Outlaw Black. The Chicago Tribune praised the work for its "savage intelligence."[19] The collection was included in end-of-year lists by The New Yorker[20] and Pitchfork[21] and became one of the best-selling indie poetry titles of all time.[13] Its cover features original artwork by cartoonist Lisa Hanawalt.[22]

In July 2013, general interest website The Awl published Lockwood's prose poem "Rape Joke",[23] which quickly became a viral sensation. The poem develops a personal experience Lockwood had at age 19 into a broader commentary on rape culture.[6] The Guardian wrote that the poem "casually reawakened a generation's interest in poetry."[24] The Poetry Foundation declared the poem "world famous."[25] The poem was selected for the 2014 edition of The Best American Poetry series and won a Pushcart Prize. It has since been translated into more than 20 languages.[26]

In 2014, Penguin Books published Lockwood's second poetry collection, Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals. The book's cover features more original artwork by Hanawalt. The New York Times critic Dwight Garner praised the book for its "indelible, dreamlike details."[27] Stephanie Burt, writing for The New York Times Book Review, lauded it as "at once angrier, and more fun, more attuned to our time and more bizarre, than most poetry can ever get."[28] The Stranger dubbed Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals "the first true book of poetry to be published in the 21st century."[29] Rolling Stone included Lockwood and the book on its 2014 Hot List and The New York Times named it a Notable Book.[30]

2017–present: Book publishing, essays and criticism

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Main articles: Priestdaddy and No One Is Talking About This

Riverhead Books published Lockwood's memoir Priestdaddy in May 2017.[31] The book, called "electric" by The New York Times and "remarkable" by The Washington Post, chronicles her return as an adult to live in her father's rectory and deals with issues of family, belief, belonging, and personhood.[10] In July 2017, Imagine Entertainment announced it had optioned Priestdaddy for development as a limited TV series.[32] The memoir was named one of the 10 best books of 2017 by The New York Times Book Review, one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, New York, Elle, NPR, Amazon,[33] Publishers Weekly, among others, was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize, and was awarded the 2018 Thurber Prize for American Humor.[34] In 2019, The Times included the book on its list "The 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years,"[35] and The Guardian named it one of the 100 best books of the 21st century.[36]

Riverhead also published Lockwood's debut novel, No One Is Talking About This, in February 2021. It was simultaneously released by Bloomsbury in the UK.[37] The book follows an unnamed female protagonist's interactions with a virtual platform called "the portal." Lockwood has acknowledged that much of the second part of No One Is Talking About This was inspired by real-life events surrounding her niece Lena, the first person diagnosed in utero with Proteus syndrome.[38] Writing for The New York Review of Books, Clair Wills praised the novel as "an arch descendant of Austen's socio-literary style — a novel of observation, crossed with a memoir of a family crisis, and written as a prose poem, steeped in metaphor."[39] In The Wall Street Journal, Emily Bobrow called the novel "artful" and "an intimate and moving portrait of love and grief."[40] It won the 2022 Dylan Thomas Prize, was shortlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize, and was one of the New York Times' 10 Best Books of 2021.[41] In 2024, The Atlantic included No One Is Talking About This among its Great American Novels.[42]

Lockwood's essays and literary criticism, most notably in the London Review of Books, have been collected in The Best American Essays series and introduced works by authors including Virginia Woolf, Joan Didion, and Rachel Ingalls.[43] The New Yorker has called Lockwood "a wizardly reviewer," and The Paris Review has celebrated her as "a cultural critic at the height of her powers."[44] Praising her "fine thinking" and "purposeful comedy," The New York Times Magazine's Wyatt Mason concluded, "Nothing will get you to read literary criticism" if Lockwood can't.[45]

Lockwood contracted COVID-19 in March 2020, and as of February 2021 was still living with long COVID symptoms.[46]

Awards

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Year Work Award Category Result Ref.
2015 "Rape Joke" Pushcart Prize — Selected [26]
2017 Priestdaddy Goodreads Choice Award Memoir & Autobiography Nominated—20th [47]
Kirkus Prize — Shortlisted [48]
2018 Thurber Prize for American Humor — Won [49]
2021 No One Is Talking About This Booker Prize — Shortlisted [50]
Center for Fiction First Novel Prize — Shortlisted [51]
Women's Prize for Fiction — Shortlisted [52]
2022 Dylan Thomas Prize — Won [53]
International Dublin Literary Award — Longlisted [54]

Bibliography

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Fiction

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  • —— (2021). No One Is Talking About This. Riverhead Books. ISBN 9780593189580.

Nonfiction

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Poetry collections

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  • —— (2012). Balloon Pop Outlaw Black (paperback ed.). Octopus Books. ISBN 9780985118228.
  • —— (2014). Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals (paperback ed.). Penguin Books. ISBN 9780141984865.
  • ——; Michael Robbins; Timothy Thornton (2017). Penguin Modern Poets 2: Controlled Explosions: Michael Robbins, Patricia Lockwood, Timothy Thornton. Penguin Books.

Selected poems

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All poems published by Lockwood.

Year Title and debut publication
2011 "Love Poem Like We Used to Write It". The New Yorker. November 28, 2011.
2012 "The Arch". Poetry. April 1, 2012.
2013 "Rape Joke". The Awl. July 25, 2013.
"What Is the Zoo for What". The New Yorker. Vol. 89, no. 34. October 28, 2013. pp. 56–57.
"Government Spending". Poetry. December 1, 2013.
"The Hypno-Domme Speaks, and Speaks and Speaks". Poetry. December 1, 2013.
2017 "Jewel Thief Movie". Poetry. September 1, 2017.
"The Ode on a Grecian Urn". Poetry. September 1, 2017.
"The Pinch". The Awl. March 16, 2017.
2018 "How Do We Write Now". Tin House. April 10, 2018.

References

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  1. ^ Kois, Dan (October 6, 2020). "You Could Make This Place Beautiful". Slate. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
  2. ^ Fedor, Ashley (March 11, 2022). "2022 Literature Award Winners". American Academy of Arts and Letters. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  3. ^ "The 10 Best Books of 2021". Wikipedia. December 20, 2021. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
  4. ^ "No One Is Talking About This". Kirkus Reviews. November 30, 2020. Retrieved November 30, 2020.
  5. ^ Parker, James (May 2017). "Poet on the Edge". The Atlantic. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  6. ^ a b [GATTI, T. In the name of the father. New Statesman. 146, 5368, 16-17, May 26, 2017.] ISSN 1364-7431
  7. ^ Laity, Paul (April 27, 2017). "Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood review – a dazzling comic memoir". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  8. ^ Kelly, Kevin (August 11, 2011). "Unusual path leads Father Lockwood to K.C." The Catholic Key. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  9. ^ Jerkins, Morgan (May 1, 2017). "Patricia Lockwood: The Poet Laureate of Twitter". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  10. ^ a b Garner, Dwight (May 3, 2017). "Patricia Lockwood Is a Priest's Child (Really), but 'From the Devil'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  11. ^ "Our History | 40 years for artists". YoungArts. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
  12. ^ Kellaway, Kate (April 30, 2017). "Patricia Lockwood: 'I'm a show-off, a clown'". The Guardian. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
  13. ^ a b Lichtenstein, Jesse (May 28, 2014). "The Smutty-Metaphor Queen of Lawrence, Kansas". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  14. ^ "Patricia Lockwood's Sext Poems Will Make You LOL". Huffington Post. January 24, 2012. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  15. ^ Notopoulos, Katie; Herrman, John (April 5, 2013). "Weird Twitter: The Oral History". BuzzFeed. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  16. ^ Bump, Philip. "The Best Tweets of All Time, According to Us". The Atlantic. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  17. ^ Piepenbring, Dan (January 9, 2014). "At Last, We Answer Patricia Lockwood's Excellent Tweet". The Paris Review. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  18. ^ Piepenbring, Dan (January 31, 2018). "Paris, Reviewed". The Paris Review. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  19. ^ Robbins, Michael (December 16, 2012). "Poetry in neglect". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  20. ^ Frere-Jones, Sasha (December 20, 2012). "Best Books of 2012, P.S." The New Yorker. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  21. ^ Brown, Austin (December 31, 2012). "Guest List: Best of 2012". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  22. ^ "Let's Help Patricia Lockwood Get a Tramp Stamp, Shall We?". Harriet: The Blog. Poetry Foundation. October 24, 2012.
  23. ^ Lockwood, Patricia (July 25, 2013). "Rape Joke". The Awl. Archived from the original on May 14, 2017. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  24. ^ Groskop, Viv (July 26, 2013). "Rape Joke: what is Patricia Lockwood's poem really saying?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  25. ^ Foundation, Poetry. "Patricia Lockwood 'Rape Joke' Poem Is World-Famous". Harriet: The Blog. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  26. ^ a b "Fiction Book Review: The Pushcart Prize XXXIX: Best of the Small Presses, 2015 Edition by Edited by Bill Henderson, with the Pushcart Prize editors. Pushcart, $19.95 trade paper (650p)". Publishers Weekly. ISBN 978-1-888889-73-4. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  27. ^ Garner, Dwight (May 28, 2014). "Patricia Lockwood's 'Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  28. ^ Burt, Stephanie (July 18, 2014). "Patricia Lockwood's 'Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  29. ^ Constant, Paul (July 9, 2014). "The Most Modern Poet". The Stranger. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  30. ^ The New York Times (December 2, 2014). "100 Notable Books of 2014". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  31. ^ Rooney, Kathleen (May 1, 2017). "Patricia Lockwood's memoir, 'Priestdaddy,' is smart, funny and irreverent". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 8, 2017.
  32. ^ Gajewski, Ryan (July 6, 2017). "Patricia Lockwood's Memoir 'Priestdaddy' Optioned by Imagine Television". The Wrap. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
  33. ^ "The 20 Best Books of 2017, According to Amazon's Editors". Bustle. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
  34. ^ "2018 THURBER PRIZE FOR AMERICAN HUMOR WINNER". Thurber House. Archived from the original on December 6, 2018. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  35. ^ "The 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years". The New York Times. June 26, 2019. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  36. ^ "The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century". The Guardian. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  37. ^ "Bloomsbury Wins Auction for Lockwood's "Miraculous" Debut Novel". The Bookseller. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
  38. ^ Westenfeld, Adrienne (February 16, 2021). "Patricia Lockwood: 'In the Face of Tragedy, Patricia Lockwood Found the Real World Again'". Esquire. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  39. ^ Wills, Clair. "Bildungsonline". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  40. ^ Bobrow, Emily. "Life in the Slipstream". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  41. ^ "No One Is Talking About This | The Booker Prizes". thebookerprizes.com. February 16, 2021. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
  42. ^ "The Great American Novels". The Atlantic. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  43. ^ "The Best American Essays 2021". The Best American Essays. Archived from the original on October 23, 2021. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
  44. ^ "Monsters, Monkies, and Maladies". The Paris Review. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
  45. ^ "How Mary-Kay Wilmers Became Britain's Most Influential Editor". The New York Times. October 24, 2019. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
  46. ^ "Patricia Lockwood: The Internet Dominates Our Lives, So Why Not Our Fiction?". Lit Hub. February 18, 2021. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
  47. ^ "Announcing the Goodreads Choice Winner in Best Memoir & Autobiography!". Goodreads. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
  48. ^ "The 20 Best Books of 2017, According to Amazon's Editors". Bustle. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
  49. ^ "2018 THURBER PRIZE FOR AMERICAN HUMOR WINNER". Thurber House. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  50. ^ "The 2021 Booker Prize longlist is". The Booker Prizes. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  51. ^ "Announcing the 2021 First Novel Prize Shortlist". The Center for Fiction. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  52. ^ "Women's prize for fiction shortlist entirely first-time nominees". the Guardian. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  53. ^ "Lockwood and Azumah Nelson make shortlist for £30k Dylan Thomas Prize". The Bookseller. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  54. ^ "2022 Dublin Literary Award Longlist". DUBLIN Literary Award. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
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