Eating Fire:
A book talk with Kelly Cogswell

Kelly Cogswell set out from Kentucky armed only with an electric typewriter, a stack of poems, and willingness to do the bare minimum as a maid, dishwasher, prep cook and temporary secretary.

In New York, following an unscheduled (and naked) performance that stunned the NYU Department of Performance Studies, she decided to put her Medusa-like powers to good use, first as a lesbian activist, and later, as an independent journalist and monger of extremely underground art.

Now, a twenty year resident of 1st Street, Kelly Cogswell will present her new book Eating Fire: My Life as a Lesbian Avenger, spanning the twenty years from the culture wars to the war on terror. She will focus in particular on the importance of neighborhood to that pioneering group born in 1992 from the queer arts and activist scene of the East Village.

Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing.