Hilton Als facts for kids

Hilton Als (born 1960) is an American writer, professor, and theater critic. He is known for his thoughtful essays and reviews, especially about theater, art, and culture. Als writes for The New Yorker magazine and teaches writing at several universities, including the University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University.

He has also worked for other famous magazines like The Village Voice and Vibe. In 2020, he was chosen as a special visiting scholar at Princeton University.

Early Life and Education

Hilton Als was born in New York City and grew up in the Brownsville, Brooklyn neighborhood. His family has roots in the country of Barbados. He has four older sisters and one younger brother. For college, he studied art history at Columbia University.

Career as a Writer and Critic

Hilton Als has had a long and successful career writing about many different topics. He is especially famous for his work as a theater critic, where he reviews plays and shares his ideas about them.

Important Books

Als has written several important books. His first book, The Women (1996), is about important people in his life, including his mother and his mentor, the writer Owen Dodson. The book explores ideas about personal identity.

Another well-known book by Als is White Girls (2013). This is a collection of essays where he writes about a wide range of topics, from famous people like comedian Richard Pryor to big ideas about society, culture, and identity.

Work for Magazines

For many years, Als has been a staff writer for The New Yorker, one of the most famous magazines in the world. His work has also been featured in other publications like The Nation, The Believer, and the New York Review of Books.

Teaching and Art Curation

Besides writing, Hilton Als is also a dedicated teacher. He has taught at many top universities, including Smith College, Wellesley College, Wesleyan University, and Yale University. He shares his knowledge of writing and criticism with students.

Als also works as an art curator, which means he organizes art exhibitions.

• In 2015, he curated a show called Forces in Nature. It featured famous artists like Peter Doig, Chris Ofili, and Kara Walker.
• In 2017, he organized an exhibition of paintings by Alice Neel called Alice Neel, Uptown.
• In 2024, he guest-curated an exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery about the writer James Baldwin. It included art by Beauford Delaney and Faith Ringgold.

Awards and Honors

Hilton Als has received many awards for his writing. These awards recognize him as one of the most important critics of his time.

• Pulitzer Prize for Criticism (2017): He won this very famous award for his "bold and original" reviews. The Pulitzer committee praised him for connecting plays to real-world topics like identity and culture.
• Windham–Campbell Literature Prize (2016): He received this major prize for his nonfiction writing.
• Guggenheim fellowship (2000): This grant supported his creative writing.
• George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism (2002–03): An award specifically for his work as a theater critic.
• Berlin Prize (2004): This prize allowed him to live and work in Berlin, Germany for half a year.
• Langston Hughes Medal (2017): An award from the City College of New York.
• Honorary Doctorates: He has received honorary degrees from The New School (2018) and Syracuse University (2024).

In June 2020, Queerty magazine named him one of its 50 heroes who are "leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people."

See also

• LGBT culture in New York City
• List of LGBT writers
• List of LGBT people from New York City
• NYC Pride March