Lars Eighner's Homepage: Curriculum Vitae

Curriculum Vitae

Biography

Lars Eighner was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, Thanksgiving day, November 25, 1948, the grandson of Texas poets Alice Ewing Vail, author of The Big Thicket, and John Arthur Vail. Eighner was surrounded by literary influences throughout his childhood. He was the subject of light verse by New England poet Robert P. Tristram Coffin, and at the age of eleven he was permitted to attend a workshop on creative writing by George Williams of Rice University given at the Corpus Christi Fine Arts Colony.

Eighner was graduated from Lamar High School in Houston (1966) and attended the University of Texas at Austin. Although Eighner wrote for community and other nonpaying publications almost all of his adult life and supported himself at times by writing privately commissioned monographs and essays, he did not begin submitting work to paying publications until 1983. He sold virtually all of the short fiction he wrote.

In 1985 his first story collection Bayou Boy and Other Stories was issued by Gay Sunshine Press (reissued in 1993 by Badboy Books as Bayou Boy). A major part of this book was the "Houston Streets" story cycle, a semi-autobiographical account of his experiences growing up in Houston in the 1950s and early 1960s.

In 1987 he lost his employment at the state asylum in Austin, Texas. Although his literary work was a critical success in its small market, it did not afford Eighner sufficient income to prevent his becoming homeless in early 1988. Eighner and his dog Lizbeth remained homeless on the streets of Los Angeles and Austin and places in between for three years. When he settled in a vacant building he began to recount his experiences as a homeless person on a manual typewriter by the light of three kerosene lamps. Excerpts of this account were published in The Threepenny Review and the essay "On Dumpster Diving" became an instant chestnut, being reprinted in a half dozen college literature texts, several literary anthologies, and numerous periodicals including Harper's Magazine.

The finished memoir Travels with Lizbeth was published in October, 1993, by St. Martin's Press. The New York Times Book Review devoted its cover of October 10 to the book and named it an editor's choice for 1993. The Times Literary Supplement warmly received the UK edition when it was issued in July of 1994. The book has been issued in Danish, Dutch, and Italian editions. Eighner's books in 1995 included Gay Cosmos, a collection of essays; Whispered in the Dark, an erotic short story collection; and QSFX2, erotic science fiction stories in a volume shared with "Clay Caldwell." Pawn to Queen Four, a camp novel, issued by St. Martin's Press in 1995, was completed before Eighner became homeless. The only remaining copy of the manuscript was returned to Eighner's last address. Eighner was unknown to the new occupants, but they opened the manuscript and read it. Pawn to Queen Four circulated in manuscript in Austin until it was mentioned to a friend of Eighner's who tracked the manuscript down and recovered it.

Although Travels with Lizbeth was a critical success and was as commercially successful as many little literary books, it did not produce a lasting income. In 1996, Eighner and Lizbeth relocated to San Antonio, Texas, where housing was available at more favorable rates than in the Austin market. Unfortunately, teaching engagements Eighner expected in San Antonio evaporated under mysterious circumstances. Eighner received threatening and abusive phone calls, and the affordable apartment he had found was far away from practical public transportation and the heart of San Antonio's cultural community. When an expected contractual payment from a publisher failed to materialize at the expected time, Eighner and Lizbeth became homeless again.

Eighner returned to Austin and camped for about a month on the banks of Shoal Creek. Several friends organized a fund under the auspices of The Texas Observer and a small apartment was found for Eighner and Lizbeth in the Deep Eddy neighborhood.

Circulatory problems first described in Travels with Lizbeth flared up again and resulted in Eighner becoming disabled. In 2006 Eighner resided in a small apartment near IH 35 and Rundberg Lane in Austin.

Credits

Books

This does not include a complete account of non-English editions.

WANK: The Tapes (New York: Badboy Books, 1998).
Pawn to Queen Four (New York: St. Martin's , 1995.
Travels with Lizbeth (New York: St. Martin's, 1993; London: Bloomsbury, 1994; Copenhagen: as Bumsen og gadekrydset, (Borgens Forlag, 1994); Dutch and Italian editions in the fall of 1995.
Bayou Boy and Other Stories (San Francisco, 1985; reissued as Bayou Boy, Badboy, 1993).
B.M.O.C. (New York: Badboy,1993).
American Prelude (New York: Badboy, 1994).
Lavender Blue: How to Write and Sell Gay Men's Erotica (Austin: Caliente, 1988, out of print). Revised and reissued as Elements of Arousal (New York: Kasak Books, 1994).
Gay Cosmos (New York: Kasak Books, 1995).
Whispered in the Dark (New York: Badboy, 1995).
QSFX2 by Clay Caldwell and Lars Eighner (New York: Badboy, 1995).

Lectures, Appearances & Readings

"Your First Novel," North East Independent School District (San Antonio) Community Education, Summer, 1997.
"Writing a Memorable Memoir," North East Independent School District (San Antonio) Community Education, Summer, 1997.
"Style by the Word;" Gemini Ink, Spring, 1997.
"Against Paternalism,"Housing California '94, 1994, Sacramento.
"At Home on the Sidewalks," Parsons School of Design, 1994, New York.
"Health Care and the Homeless," 5th National Health Care For the Homeless Conference, Baltimore, 1994.
"Black Ganymede," Regional Conference of Black and White Men Together, Atlanta, 1985.
"Composing the Memoir as a Family Document," University of Texas Learning Activities for Mature People (UT-LAMP), 1994.
InsomniYAKathon (Literacy Council benefit) Tucson, Arizona.
Queer Voices II (AIDS Food Pantry benefit) Austin, 1994.
Literary Cafe, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, 1994.
Mostly Music Marathon (AIDS Services of Austin benefit) Austin, 1994.
The International S/M-Leather-Fetish Celebration (Leather Celebration '94 Committee) New York, 1994.
MOCA: "Racing Toward the Millennium: Voices from the American West." 1995. (Los Angeles) Museum of Contemporary Art and the Los Angeles Public Library.
American Poetry Archives and San Francisco Poetry Center, 1995.
Hawaii Literary Arts Council, Honolulu and Maui, 1995.
Writers' Harvest 1995 (SOS benefit), at Book Stop Central Market and The Electric Lounge.

Preiodicals

The Threepenny Review (San Francisco)
BLK (Los Angeles)
The Advocate (Los Angeles)
The San Diego Reader
The Seattle Times
Tucson Weekly
The Austin Chronicle
The West Austin News
This Week in Texas
The Big Issue (London)
The Guide (Boston)
Advocate MEN
Inches
Freshmen
Stallion
Torso
San Angelo Standard-Times
Guys
Harper's Magazine
The Utne Reader
The Family Therapy Networker
Guys
California Lawyer
wilde
Details
Manhattan File
The New York Times Book Review
The Texas Observer
The Washington Post
English Network (Japan)

Video

Backstrokes, voice over script, John Summers, producer/director, Video 10, 1988.
video essayist, <cite>Declarations</cite> David Van Taylor, producer, ITVS, 1994.