Kenny Fries (born September 22, 1960) is an American

memoirist A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...

and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wr ...

. He is the author of ''In the Province of the Gods'' (2017), ''The History of My Shoes and the Evolution of Darwin's Theory'' (2007), ''Body, Remember: A Memoir'' (1997), and editor of ''Staring Back: The Disability Experience from the Inside Out'' (1997). He was commissioned by Houston Grand Opera to write the libretto for ''The Memory Stone,'' which premiered in 2013. His books of poems include ''In the Gardens of Japan'' (2017), ''Desert Walking'' (2006) and ''Anesthesia'' (2000). He received a 2009

Creative Capital Creative Capital is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in New York City that supports artists across the United States through funding, counsel, gatherings, and career development services. Since its founding in 1999, Creative Capital has commi ...

grant in Innovative Literature, the 2007 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award, the

Gregory Kolovakos Award Awards presented by the PEN American Center (today PEN America) that are no longer active. The awards are among many PEN awards sponsored by International PEN in over 145 PEN centres around the world. The PEN American Center awards have been ch ...

, a Creative Arts Fellowship from the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission and the National Endowment, and has twice been a

Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...

(in Japan and Germany). In 2017, he created the Fries Test for disability in fiction and film, akin to the

Bechdel Test The Bechdel test ( ) is a measure of the representation of women in film (and, by extension, in fiction in general). The test asks whether a film features at least two women talking to each other about something other than a man. The measure so ...

for women.

Early life and education

Fries was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behi ...

.Nelson, Emmanuel Sampath (2003). ''Contemporary Gay American Poets and Playwrights'', Greenwood Publishing Group. He graduated with an MFA from Columbia University's School for the Arts. Fries graduated in 1977 from high school and went on to pursue a degree in English and American Literature, at

Brandeis University Brandeis University is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational institution sponsored by the Jews, Jewish community, Brandeis was established on t ...

. He received a master's degree in Playwriting at Columbia University.

Career

Kenny Fries officially started writing in 1988, after he had begun attending Millay Colony for the Arts. The majority of Fries' books and poems were written due to his experiences as a disabled, gay, Jewish man. Some of the writings that Fries has written include: ''Body, Remember: A Memoir'' (2003), ''Staring Back: The Disability Experience from the Inside Out'', ''The History of My Shoes and the Evolution of Darwin's Theory'' (2007), ''Anesthesia: Poems by Kenny Fries'' (1996), ''Desert Walking: Poems'' (2000), ''The Healing Notebooks'' (1990) and ''Night After Night: Poems'' (1984). Some of the scholarly writings written by Fries include: "Songs of Whitman" (2003), "Comedy is Not a Crutch" (2001), and "Where Ecstasy Might Reside" (1995).

Fries Test

Inspired by

Alison Bechdel Alison Bechdel ( ; born September 10, 1960) is an American cartoonist. Originally known for the long-running comic strip ''Dykes to Watch Out For'', she came to critical and commercial success in 2006 with her Graphic novel, graphic memoir ''Fun ...

test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

to determine if a creative work has a fair representation of women, Fries created the "Fries Test" for disability. Fries wrote that to pass the Fries Test, a creative work needs: * to have more than one disabled character; * the disabled characters need to have their own narrative purpose other than the education and profit of a nondisabled character; * the characters' disability should not be eradicated either by curing or killing.

Honors and awards

Kenny Fries received the 2007 Outstanding Book Award from the Gustavus Myers Center for the study of Bigotry and Human Rights. He was a Creative Arts Fellow of the Japan-US Friendship commission and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as being twice a Fulbright scholar to Japan and Germany. In 2009, Fries received residency in the artists' community in

Yaddo Yaddo is an artists' community located on a estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.". On March ...

. In 2010 he received Ledig House International writers residency. Fries has also collaborated with composers Kumiko Takahashi and Yuka Takechi, and singer Mika Kimula on their new music work ''In the Gardens of Japan'', which has been performed in Tokyo, Yokohama, and New York City. Fries has also received a grant in Literature from the

to complete his memoir, ''In the Province of the Gods'', which will be published September 19, 2017 by

University of Wisconsin Press The University of Wisconsin Press (sometimes abbreviated as UW Press) is a non-profit university press publishing peer-reviewed books and journals. It publishes work by scholars from the global academic community; works of fiction, memoir and p ...

Works

*''The Healing Notebooks'' (1990) *''Anesthesia: Poems'' (1996) *''Body, Remember: A Memoir'' (1997) *''Staring Back: The Disability Experience from the Inside Out'' (1997) *''Desert Walking: Poems'' (2000) *''The History of My Shoes and the Evolution of Darwin's Theory'' (2007) *''The Memory Stone'' (2013) *In the Gardens of Japan (2017) *''In the Province of the Gods'' (2017)

References

Los Angeles Times 13 November 1997

External links

Kenny Fries's Web SiteComedy is not a crutch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fries, Kenny 1960 births American memoirists American writers with disabilities American male poets Living people Poets with disabilities Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Brandeis University alumni 20th-century American poets 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American poets 21st-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers Writers from Brooklyn LGBT people from New York (state) LGBT Jews Jewish American poets American gay writers American LGBT poets American disability rights activists Gay poets American activists with disabilities LGBT writers with disabilities Memoirists from New York (state)