Louise Stern

Louise Stern
Born1978 (age 45–46)
California, U.S.
OccupationWriter, artist
EducationGallaudet University
Sotheby's Institute of Art (MA)
Notable worksChattering
RelativesShoshannah Stern (sister)

Louise Stern (born 1978) is an American writer and artist, and works around ideas of language, communication and isolation.[1]

Stern grew up in an exclusively deaf community and is fourth-generation deaf on her father's side, and third-generation deaf on her mother's side. She attended California School for the Deaf, Fremont.[2]

Literature

Her first collection of short stories, Chattering, was published by Granta in 2011. Alan Warner called it "an amazing debut: vibrantly perceptive, gentle, funny and profound".[2]

Her first novel, Ismael and His Sisters, was written and set in a deaf village in the Yucatán Peninsula, where Stern communicated in Mayan Sign Language.[3][4] There will be an accompanying book of photographs to it.[5]

She has also written plays, including The Ugly Birds and The Interpreter, which was performed at the Bush Theatre.[4][5][6] Stern was commissioned to write stories for BBC Radio 4 in 2012 and 2013.[7][8]

Visual art

Stern studied at Gallaudet University, where she was the only student studying art history.[9] She moved to the United Kingdom in 2002 where she gained a Master of Arts from Sotheby's Institute of Art and worked as an assistant to Sam Taylor-Wood.

Her own artwork has been exhibited in galleries in Geneva, Barcelona, Madrid, London, and Port Eliot.[2] She is the founder and publisher of Maurice, a contemporary art magazine for children.[10]

Film

She directed a film, Celan, based on the poetry of Paul Celan. The first screening had live spoken accompaniment by Polly Frame.[11] The premiere screening of Celan and accompanying live performance took place at a PoetryFilm Equinox event curated by Zata Kitowski.

In 1999, she acted with her sister Shoshannah in the film The Auteur Theory.[12]

She is the subject of the film Louisa in Majahua.[13]

Books

  • Chattering, Granta Books, 2011. ISBN 1847081770
  • Ismael and His Sisters, Granta Books, 2015 ISBN 9781847089458

References

  1. ^ "Louise Stern". Kindle Project. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c O'Kelly, Lisa (May 30, 2010). "Louise Stern: 'I didn't think I would ever live in the hearing world, let alone write in it'". The Observer. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  3. ^ "Ismael and His Sisters". Granta. Archived from the original on May 16, 2015. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  4. ^ a b England, Juliet. "A catch-up with author Louise Stern". Hearing Times. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  5. ^ a b "Deaf writer shines at RADAR festival". Hearing Times. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  6. ^ Gray, Freddy (May 14, 2011). "The chattering classes". The Spectator. No. May 14, 2011. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  7. ^ "The Electric Box". BBC. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  8. ^ "Latido". BBC. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  9. ^ Sedition Art: Louise Stern
  10. ^ "LOUISE STERN". Granta. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  11. ^ "Programme: PoetryFilm Equinox: Translation, Transcreation, Punctuation". PoetryFilm. September 24, 2014. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  12. ^ "The Auteur Theory". imdb. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  13. ^ "Louisa in Majahua". Steven M Fisher. Retrieved September 26, 2014.