PHOTO LIBBY LEWIS
The last year has seen Eileen Myles take up her rightful place as an international cultural icon. The dyke poet has always been a cult star and now she is receiving mainstream recognition. She’s inspired not one but two fabulous lesbian characters in film and TV (fans of Lily Tomlin’s Grandma and Jill Soloway’s hit series Transparent will have no difficulties seeing the connection), her novel Chelsea Girls is being published in the UK for the first time, and her collected works, I Must Be Living Twice, is out to huge critical acclaim. She came to London hot on the heels of winning the Lambda Pioneer Award 2016 which honours those who have contributed to the LGBT community in groundbreaking ways through literature.
DIVA met up with Eileen to ask about future projects, running for president, and creating a gender-free reality.