My writing has appeared in the The Guardian, The Baffler, Parapraxis, The Drift, Cabinet, and Post45 Contemporaries, among other venues.
I am a PhD candidate in English and Theater and Performance Studies at the University of Chicago, where I research personality, work, and the history of social science and hold a Neubauer Distinguished Doctoral Fellowship. 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).
I was the Nonfiction Editor of Chicago Review from 2020–23. I once designed a cover for Bauwelt. I was interviewed by Time as an expert on social distancing. I was an DAAD Arts-and-Media Fellow with the Artists-in-Berlin program.
I was an undergrad at Harvard, where I studied comparative literature, media theory, and studio art. My thesis was named the best in the humanities by the Radcliffe Institute.
You can email me at lily.scherlis [at] gmail.com.
I also have a newsletter for occasional updates.