Elizabeth Frank, writer, art critic and translator
Elizabeth Frank
La Grande Boissière, 1963
Writer, art critic and translator
USA
Learn more about me :
- Bard College website
- Books available on Amazon and Alibris
I live in New York City and I have an adult daughter, Annie. I am a writer and have published fiction, biography, several books about artists, and two translations, with a friend, of Bulgarian fiction. Since 1982, I have been a member of the literature faculty at Bard College in upstate New York and have no plans to retire. I am currently working on two books: one is a novel that takes place in Bulgaria and the other is a monograph about the American artist Susan Crile. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, I spent every summer since 1999 with my beloved partner, fellow Ecolintian Valentin Belinski, in Sofia. Sadly, we lost him at the end of January 2021 to a chronic illness. Because of pandemic restrictions, Americans could not enter Bulgaria in 2020 and early 2021, so I was unable to be with him at the end. He loved his years at Ecolint and we spoke often of the friends we had made there.
I have so many Ecolint memories: hanging out with friends (with many of whom I'm still in touch) at Grange after school, Mr. Mawson's English class, Rock Brynner in Mr. Mawson's production of "Hedda Gabler"... really, too many to describe here. I had a wonderful two years at the school!
My experience at Ecolint helped me in every way. It remains central to my life. It taught me that there are no "others." We're all in it together.
I wish I had come to Ecolint many years earlier. For one thing, my French would have been a lot better!
My words of wisdom for Ecolint students: as my dear friend, the late Esteban Vicente, a wonderful first-generation abstract Expressionist from Spain, used to say: "The important thing is to be alive. The rest is politics."