The savage, beautiful, and unforgettable memoirs of an extraordinary artist, activist, and iconoclast who lit up the New York art scene in the late 20th century 
David Wojnarowicz's brief but eventful life was not easy. From a suburban adolescence marked by neglect, drugs, prostitution, and abuse to a squalid life on the streets of New York City, to fame - and infamy - as an activist and controversial visual artist whose work was lambasted in the halls of Congress, all before his early death from AIDS at age 37, Wojnarowicz seemed to be at war with a homophobic "establishment" and the world itself. Yet what emerged from the darkness was a truly extraordinary artist and human being - an angry young man of remarkable poetic sensibilities who was inordinately sympathetic to those who, like him, lived and struggled outside society's boundaries. 
Close to the Knives is his searing yet strangely beautiful account told in a collection of powerful essays. An author whom reviewers have compared to Kerouac and Genet, David Wojnarowicz mesmerizes, horrifies, and delights in equal measure with his unabashed honesty. At once savage and funny, poignant and sexy, compassionate and unforgiving, his words and stories cut like knives, leaving indelible marks on all who listen to them.

Close to the Knives

Biographies & Memoirs

David Wojnarowicz

Arts & Literature

Audible Studios on Brilliance Audio

From the author's violent childhood in suburbia to eventual homelessness on the streets and piers of New York City, to recognition as one of the most provocative artists of his generation - Close to the Knives is his powerful and iconoclastic memoir. Street life, drugs, art and nature, family, AIDS, politics, friendship and acceptance: Wojnarowicz challenges us to examine our lives - politically, socially, emotionally, and aesthetically.

Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration (Canons)

History

Canongate Canons

The acclaimed autobiography of legendary multi-media East Village artist traces his desperate youth through to his AIDS-related death in 1992; the work, begun collaboratively with Wojnarowicz prior to his death, is drawn by James Romberger with colors by Marguerite Van Cook.

7 Miles a Second

James Romberger

Marguerite Van Cook

Steuben Press

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Books by David Wojnarowicz