Syd Zolf

Syd Zolf (born December 14, 1968), formerly known as Rachel Zolf, is a Canadian-American poet and theorist. They are the author of five poetry collections: Janey's Arcadia(2014), which was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award, a Raymond Souster Memorial Award, and a Vine Award; Neighbour Procedure(2010); Human Resources(2007), which won the 2008 Trillium Book Award for Poetry and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award; Masque (2004), which was shortlisted for the 2005 Trillium Book Award for Poetry; and Her absence, this wanderer (1999), the title poem of which was a finalist in the CBC Literary Competition. A selected poetry, Social Poesis: The Poetry of Rachel Zolf, was published in 2019. A work of poetics/theory, No One's Witness: A Monstrous Poetics, in 2021 and was a finalist for the 2022 Pegasus Award for Poetry Criticism from the Poetry Foundation. They received a Pew Fellowship in the Arts in 2018.

Zolf's art video translation of three poems from Janey’s Arcadia  has shown at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Dunlop Art Gallery and other venues. Among their many collaborations, Zolf wrote the film The Light Club of Vizcaya: A Women’s Picture, directed by New York artist Josiah McElheny, which premiered at Art Basel Miami  and showed at the Wexner Center for the Arts, White Cube Bermondsey, Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, and elsewhere. They also conducted the first collaborative MFA in Creative Writing ever, The Tolerance Project.

Zolf teaches at the University of Pennsylvania. They were the founding poetry editor for The Walrus magazine and have edited several books of poetry. Their archives are held at York University in Toronto, Ontario, and at Simon Fraser University's Special Collections in Burnaby, British Columbia.

They are the child of author and broadcaster Larry Zolf and Patricia Zolf.

Works
1999: Her Absence, this Wanderer. Ottawa: BuschekBooks.
2004: Masque. Toronto: The Mercury Press.
2007: Human Resources. Toronto: Coach House Books.
2008: Shoot & Weep. Vancouver: Nomados.
2010: Neighbour Procedure. Toronto: Coach House Books.
2014: Janey's Arcadia. Toronto: Coach House Books.
2019: Social Poesis: The Poetry of Rachel Zolf: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
2021: No One's Witness: A Monstrous Poetics: Duke University Press.

Awards 

 Pew Fellowship in the Arts, 2018

No One's Witness 

 Finalist, 2022 Pegasus Award for Poetry Criticism, presented by the Poetry Foundation

Janey's Arcadia 

 Finalist, Lambda Literary Award for  Lesbian Poetry
 Finalist, Raymond Souster Memorial Award
 Finalist, Vine Awards (Poetry)

Human Resources 

 Trillium Book Award for Poetry
 Finalist, Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry

Masque 

 Finalist, Trillium Book Award for Poetry

Her Absence, This Wanderer 

 Finalist, CBC Literary Competition

Interviews 

 With Airea D. Matthews (Kelly Writers House)
 With Britt Edelen (New Books Network)

 With ELÆ [Lynne DeSilva-Johnson] (Medium)

 Pew Fellow of the Week (Pew Center for Arts & Heritage)
 With Brian Teare (Jacket2)
 With Sarah Dowling (Affect and Audience in the Digital Age)
 With Joshua Marie Wilkinson (Take Down the Clouds)
 With Clarise Foster (Contemporary Verse 2)
 With Joel Bettridge (Jacket)
 With Kathryn Mockler (Rusty Talk)
 With Leonard Schwartz (Cross-Cultural Poetics)
 With rob mclennan (12 or 20 questions)

Reviews 
 Eclectic Ruckus review of Janey's Arcadia by Douglas Barbour
 Jacket2 review of Janey's Arcadia by Heather Milne
 The Capilano Review on Janey's Arcadia by Danielle LaFrance
 X Poetics review of Janey's Arcadia by Robin Tremblay-McGaw
 Canadian Literature review of Janey's Arcadia by Linda M. Morra
 Georgia Straight review of Janey's Arcadia by Nathaniel G. Moore
 Winnipeg Free Press review of Janey's Arcadia by Jonathan Ball (Dec. 27, 2014)
 Winnipeg Free Press review of Janey's Arcadia by Jonathan Ball (Jan. 24, 2015)
 Zeek review of Neighbour Procedure by Nava EtShalom
 Electric Ruckus review of Neighbour Procedure by Douglas Barbour
 Cahiers de Corey review of Neighbour Procedure by Joshua Corey
 Lambda Literary review of Neighbour Procedure by Julie R. Enszer
 Constant Critic review of Neighbour Procedure by Vanessa Place
 Electronic Book Review on Human Resources by MLA Chernoff
 Jacket2 and PoemTalk from The Poetry Foundation review Human Resources
 Modern Americans review of Human Resources by Rodney Koeneke
 Open Letters Monthly review of Human Resources by Elisa Gabbert
 Art Voice review of Human Resources by Kevin Thurston
 Georgia Straight review of Human Resources by Jacqueline Turner
 Poetry Foundation review of Human Resources by Christian Bok
 Quill & Quire review of Her Absence, This Wanderer by Ruth Panofsky

Sound and Video Recordings 

 Launch of No One’s Witness: A Monstrous Poetics (Kelly Writers House)
 Podcast on No One’s Witness (New Books Network)
 Syd Zolf’s PennSound page
 Lecture from No One’s Witness (Rutgers Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice)
 Janey’s Arcadia reading (Beit Zatoun)
 Janey Settler’s Pastoral Oasis (Jupiter 88)
 The Neighbour Procedure (poetry video by Laura Mullen)
 From Neighbour Procedure (Segue, NYC)

Poetry Online 

 The American Policy Player’s Guide and Dream Book
 Janey’s Invocation (Sunday Poetry)
 Janey Loves to Falk (Hazlitt)
 Janey Settler-Invader (Cordite Poetry Review)

Digital Poetry 

 The Tolerance Project (A Collaborative MFA in Poetry) 
 The Tolerance Project Archive
 The Tolerance Project: Projection of the Intimate Into the Historical (Jacket2)

Essays Online 

 From No One’s Witness: A Monstrous Poetics (Rutgers Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice)
 On Queer Art – Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
 Noone Bears Witness (Jacket2 / Canadian Literature)
 The Tolerance Project: Projection of the Intimate Into the Historical (Jacket2)
 Poetic Labor Project
 Can Poetry Have a Sociopolitical Impact (Jacket2)
 The Vocative Call (Wheelhouse)

References

External links
 

1968 births
Living people
20th-century Canadian poets
21st-century Canadian poets
Jewish Canadian writers
Literary editors
LGBT Jews
Canadian LGBT poets
Canadian non-binary writers
Canadian non-binary artists
21st-century American poets
21st-century American writers
21st-century Canadian LGBT people
20th-century Canadian LGBT people
Canadian transgender writers
American transgender writers
American LGBT poets