Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Syd Zolf fonds
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- Textual records
- Records in electronic form (born-digital)
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- Source of title proper: Title based on contents of fonds.
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Fonds
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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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2007-2014 (Creation)
- Creator
- Zolf, Syd
Physical description area
Physical description
4 m of textual records and electronic records
Publisher's series area
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Syd (formerly Rachel) Zolf’s artistic practice explores materialist questions about memory, history, knowledge, subjectivity and the conceptual limits of language and meaning. Zolf’s work queerly enacts how ethics founders on the shoals of the political, imagining other possibilities of sociality, space, and time.
Their books of poetry include Human Resources (2007, Coach House Books), Neighbour Procedure (2010, Coach House Books), Janey’s Arcadia (2014, Coach House Books), and Social Poesis (2019, Wilfrid Laurier University Press). Their book No One's Witness: A Monstrous Poetics (2021, Duke University Press) was a finalist for the 2022 Pegasus Award for Poetry Criticism. They won a 2018 Pew Fellowship in the Arts, the 2008 Trillium Book Award for Poetry, and have been a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award and the Raymond Souster Memorial Award. Their film version of Janey’s Arcadia has shown at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and other venues. Among their many collaborations, they 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 they conducted the first collaborative MFA in Creative Writing ever, The Tolerance Project. They have taught at New York’s The New School and the University of Calgary and have completed a PhD in Philosophy, Art and Social Thought at the European Graduate School.
Custodial history
Records were in the custody of Syd Zolf prior to their acquisition by Simon Fraser University Library Special Collections and Rare Books in 2014.
Scope and content
Fonds consists of research sources, drafts, correspondence, interviews, journals, magazines, teaching files, essay files, grant applications, and tax information. Records document Zolf's work as a poet, critic, editor, essayist, filmmaker and professor at the New School and University of Calgary. People with whom Zolf regularly corresponds include poets Charles Bernstein, Anne Waldman, Michael Davidson, Rodrigo Toscano, Erin Moure, Joan Retallack; theorist Judith Butler; artists Josiah McElheny, Zoe Leonard and Moyra Davey, and publisher Alana Wilcox.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
This fonds has not been processed. Restrictions on access may apply; consult staff for more information.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Works in this fonds are under copyright. Researchers are required to secure permission from the copyright holders for usage of this material, except for those covered by fair dealing.
Finding aids
Generated finding aid
Associated materials
Related materials are at York University's Clara Thomas Archives. http://archivesfa.library.yorku.ca/fonds/ON00370-f0000538.htm
Accruals
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number area
Standard number
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Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Zolf, Syd (Subject)
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Status
Published
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Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Created January 12, 2016. SS
Updated September 28, 2023. AT