Lucy Sante (formerly Luc Sante; born May 25, 1954) is a Belgium-born American writer, critic, and artist. She is a frequent contributor to ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...

''. Her books include '' Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York'' (1991). She lived as a male until announcing in September 2021 that she was transitioning to female. She wrote on her Instagram account: "Yes, this is me, and yes, I am transitioning.... You can call me Lucy ...and my pronoun, thankyouverymuch, is she."

Biography

Born in

Verviers Verviers (; wa, Vervî) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Ensival, Heusy, Lambermont, Petit-Rechain, Stembert, and Verviers. It is also the ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, Sante migrated to the United States in the early 1960s. She attended school in New York City, first at Regis High School in Manhattan and later at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

from 1972 to 1976; due to several incompletes and outstanding library fines, she did not take a degree. Since 1984 she has been a full-time writer. Sante worked in the mailroom and then as assistant to editor

Barbara Epstein Barbara Epstein ( Zimmerman; August 30, 1928 – June 16, 2006) was a literary editor and founding co-editor of ''The New York Review of Books''. Life and work Epstein, née Zimmerman, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to a Jewish family, and g ...

at ''

''. She became a regular contributor there, writing about film, art, photography, and miscellaneous cultural phenomena, as well as book reviews. Her books, include '' Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York'' (1991), ''Evidence'' (1992), the autobiographical ''The Factory of Facts'' (1998), ''Walker Evans'' (1999), ''Kill All Your Darlings: Pieces 1990-2005'' (2007), ''Folk Photography'' (2009), and ''The Other Paris'' (2015). She co-edited, with the writer, her former wife,

Melissa Holbrook Pierson Melissa Holbrook Pierson (born December 14, 1957)"Melissa Holbrook Pierson." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 3 June 2011. is a writer and essayist of non-fiction. Biography Pierson was born in Akr ...

, ''O. K. You Mugs: Writers on Movie Actors'' (1998), and translated and edited

Félix Fénéon Félix Fénéon (; 22 June 1861 – 29 February 1944) was a French art critic, gallery director, writer and anarchist during the late 19th century and early 20th century. He coined the term ''Neo-Impressionism'' in 1886 to identify a group of a ...

's ''Novels in Three Lines'' (2007) for the ''New York Review Books'' (NYRB) series. In the early 1980s, she wrote lyrics for the New York City-based band

The Del-Byzanteens The Del-Byzanteens was a New York-based no wave band active in the early 1980s. The band comprised Phil Kline (vocals, guitar); Jim Jarmusch (vocals, keyboards); Philippe Hagen (bass); Josh Braun (percussion, drums); and Dan Braun (drums, percussi ...

. Sante wrote the text for ''Take Me To The Water: Immersion Baptism In Vintage Music And Photography'', a collection of historical photos of American baptismal rites, published by

Dust-to-Digital Dust-to-Digital is a record company that specializes in documenting the history of American popular music, including historical recordings of blues, gospel, and country music. Their method combines rare recordings with historic images, photograp ...

in 2009. Having taught in the Columbia MFA writing program, Sante now lives in

Ulster County, New York Ulster County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston. The county is named after the Irish province of Ulster. History ...

, and teaches writing and the history of photography at

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic ...

. She announced on September 20, 2021, that she was transitioning to female. She wrote on her Instagram account: "Yes, this is me, and yes, I am transitioning–I have joined the other team. Yes, I've known since at least age 11 but probably earlier and yes, I suppressed and denied it for decades.... I started...hormone replacement therapy in early May....You can call me Lucy (but I won't freak out if you misgender me) and my pronoun, thankyouverymuch, is she." In February 2022 she wrote en essay in the magazine ''Vanity Fair'' explaining her transition at almost 70 years old.

Publications

Original text

* ''Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York'' (1991) *''Evidence'' (1992) *''The Factory of Facts'' (1998) **The first chapter is available online. *''The Unknown Soldier'' (short story, 1998) *''Walker Evans'' (1999) *''Kill All Your Darlings: Pieces 1990-2005'' (2007) *''Folk Photography: The American Real-Photo Postcard, 1905–1930'' (2009) *''Take Me To The Water: Immersion Baptism In Vintage Music And Photography'' (2009) *''The Other Paris'' (2015) *''Beastie Revolution'' - Beastie Boys Book - Chapter 2 - Spiegel & Grau (2018) *''Maybe the People Would Be the Times'' (2020) *''Nineteen Reservoirs'' (2022)

Editor

*''O. K. You Mugs: Writers on Movie Actors'' (1998; with

)

Translator

's ''Novels in Three Lines'' (2007) *"Beastie Revolution", ''Beastie Boys Book'', Random House Audio (2018) – voice recording

Exhibitions

While Sante began creating art in the 1960s, she had her first gallery show in 2020 at the James Fuentes Gallery.

Awards and honors

*1989:

Whiting Award The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and plays. The award is sponsored by the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation Mrs. (American English) or Mrs (British English; standard E ...

*1992–1993:

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

*1997: Literature Award from the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...

. *1998:

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

for best album notes (Sante was one of the album note writers for the 1997 re-issue of the ''

Anthology of American Folk Music ''Anthology of American Folk Music'' is a three-album compilation, released in 1952 by Folkways Records, of eighty-four recordings of American folk, blues and country music made and issued from 1926 to 1933 by a variety of performers. The album wa ...

''). *2010: Infinity Award for writing, from the

International Center of Photography The International Center of Photography (ICP), at 79 Essex Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, consists of a museum for photography and visual culture and a school offering an array of educational courses and programming. ...

, New York City

References

External links

* ** * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sante, Lucy 1954 births Living people People from Verviers Walloon people Bard College faculty Columbia College (New York) alumni Grammy Award winners Regis High School (New York City) alumni Belgian emigrants to the United States Belgian contemporary artists Belgian curators Transgender women Transgender writers LGBT writers from Belgium Transgender academics