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Maggie Nelson discusses the art and public profiles of Sylvia Plath and Taylor Swift, among other artists, including Emily Dickinson and Gertrude Stein, in a discussion of the cultural politics of female fame, followed by a Q&A.
Maggie Nelson is the author of many acclaimed books of poetry and prose, including Pathemata, Or, The Story of My Mouth (2025); Like Love: Essays and Conversations (2024); the national bestseller On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint (2021); the National Book Critics Circle Award winner and international bestseller The Argonauts (2015), named by the New York Times one of the top 100 books of the 21st century; The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning (2011); and Bluets (2009), named by Bookforum one of the best books of the past 20 years, and adapted in 2024 by director Katie Mitchell for the Royal Court Theatre, London. A 2016 MacArthur Fellow, she currently teaches at the University of Southern California and lives in Los Angeles. Author photo by Sarah St Clair Renard.