Lily Scherlis

I am a writer, artist, and PhD candidate living in Brooklyn.

My writing has appeared in Harper's, The Guardian, Parapraxis, The Baffler, The Drift, Cabinet, and Post45 Contemporaries, among other venues.

I am finishing my PhD in English and Theater and Performance Studies at the University of Chicago, where I research personality, work, and the history of social science. My research often involves ethnographic methods and oral history.

I also work in video art and performance. I’ve given performance lectures at the Renaissance Society (on friendship), the Gray Center (on ambition) and daadgalerie (on space and time).

Once I was interviewed by Time as an "expert" on social distancing. I was the Nonfiction Editor of Chicago Review from 2020–23. My work has been supported with fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute, the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin program, 3CT, the Nicholson Center, the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, the Arts, Science + Culture Initiative, and the American Society for Theater Research. I hold a Neubauer Distinguished Doctoral Fellowship and am a member of GSU-UE Local 1103.

You can email me at lily.scherlis [at] gmail.com.

I also have a newsletter for occasional updates.