Steve Turtell

Last day to join us at the ICP Photobook Fest. Today at the Palermo Publishing table: ✦ Allen Frame — Whereupon signing 12:30–1:30 PM ✦ Steve Turtell — Portraits and Places signing 1:30–2:30 PM

Today, Saturday May 9, Allen Frame and Steve Turtell will be present at the @rainbowbookfair from 12-6 PM at The Center, with a smaller selection of Palermo Publishing titles. As part of the fair’s program Steve Turtell will read an excerpt from Portraits and Places (Palermo Publishing, 2025) during the Poetry Marathon between 1 and 2 PM (timing may slightly change). Portraits and Places by Steve Turtell offers six intimate, personal views of a time in New York that now, fifty years later, seems as distant as the lost Continent of Atlantis. From the first Gay Pride March, to Frank Zappa’s thirtieth birthday party, to the fracture of a treasured friendship with the photographer Peter Hujar during a trip to Mardi Gras, these essays depict a life as varied as the scenes and characters encountered. The text is augmented with eleven Peter Hujar portraits of significant characters featured in the essays, including Charles Ludlam, Sheyla Baykal, and performers in the legendary Palm Casino Revue. Steve Turtell is a native New Yorker. His 2012 poetry collection Heroes and Householders drew praise from critic Marjorie Perloff for its “subtle and charming poems.” He was the director of public programs at the Museum of the City of New York, the South Street Seaport Museum, and the New-York Historical Society where he oversaw the public programming for 18 photography exhibitions. Peter Hujar, 1934-1987, now recognized as one of the great American photographers of the 20th century, is best known for his black and white portraits of leading figures in the downtown New York cultural scene in the 70s and 80s. 📷 Lay Ree Backstage, 1974 © 2025 The Peter Hujar Archive / ARS, New York

Today, Saturday May 9, Allen Frame and Steve Turtell will be present at the @rainbowbookfair from 12-6 PM at The Center, with a smaller selection of Palermo Publishing titles. As part of the fair’s program Steve Turtell will read an excerpt from Portraits and Places (Palermo Publishing, 2025) during the Poetry Marathon between 1 and 2 PM (timing may slightly change). 📷 Jody, Butch, Dana and Rob, NYC, 1977 from Whereupon by Allen Frame, Palermo Publishing, 2023 Whereupon was the first photography monograph released by Palermo Publishing, marking an ongoing collaboration with Allen Frame. The book presents a body of largely unpublished photographs made between the late 1970s and early 1990s. Whereupon brings together black-and-white and color images portraying artists, friends, and collaborators within apartments, lofts, and streets of downtown New York, alongside scenes from rehearsals from Turmoil in the Garden, co-adapted and co-directed by Frame in 1983–84 from David Wojnarowicz’s text Sounds in the Distance. Allen Frame is a photographer and writer based in New York. Since the 1970s he has been closely connected to the downtown New York artistic scene, working across photography, writing, and curating. His first monograph, Detour, was published in 2001, followed by Fever, @matte.editions in 2021 and Innamorato, @meteoroeditions in 2023. His work is represented by @gittermangallery . @allenframenyc @rdturtle

This weekend Allen Frame (Whereupon) and I will be representing Palermo Publishing and signing books. Saturday 12-6pm The Rainbow Book Fair, ROOM 201A, TABLE 1 The LGBT Center, 208 West 13th Street. I will be reading from Portraits and Places at approximately 1pm Sunday The Photo Book Fest The International Center for Photography 84 Ludlow New York, NY 10002 Allen Frame 11:30-12:30 Steve Turtell 12:30 - 13:00.

Subway Story This selfish See You Next Tuesday was on the packed F train this morning unashamedly taking up two seats.

It feels increasingly authoritarian these days. Check in every time you cross the main hall.

Portraits and Places got a nice review in GLR (Gay and Lesbian Review)

JOIN US TONIGHT at Printed Matter, Inc. 6–8 PM for the presentation of Portraits and Places by Steve Turtell with Allen Frame and publisher Michela Palermo Portraits and Places gathers six intimate, sharply observed essays that open onto a city which—fifty years later—feels as distant as a lost continent. From the first Gay Pride March to Frank Zappa’s thirtieth birthday, to the fracture of a friendship with Peter Hujar during a trip to Mardi Gras, Turtell traces a personal cartography of a decade shaped by transition, experimentation, and new forms of community. Steve Turtell is a New York–based writer whose work spans poetry, reviews, and essays published in journals and queer publications since the late 1970s. This is his first collection of prose. Allen Frame is a photographer and writer whose work has been exhibited internationally. Since the 1970s, he has been part of the downtown New York artistic scene. In 2023, Whereupon was published by Palermo Publishing. Michela Palermo is a book designer and publisher working between Italy and New York, and the founder of Palermo Publishing, an independent press dedicated to artist books and research-driven publications. @printedmatterinc @rdturtle @allenframenyc @michela_palermo

With the upcoming presentation of Portraits and Places by Steve Turtell at Printed Matter on April 8, Palermo Publishing newsletter opens a conversation on memory, queer communities, and publishing as a shared space where voices, images, and times remain in relation. Portraits and Places, Turtell’s first prose collection, gathers autobiographical essays written over several decades, tracing relationships, places, and encounters across the artistic and queer subcultures of 1970s–80s New York. The texts are interwoven with photographs by Peter Hujar as presences from the same world the writing evokes. The conversation, curated by Carlotta Wirtz in dialogue with Steve Turtell, unfolds around queer publishing, artistic communities, friendship, work, and memory. What follows is an excerpt. → Link in bio to read the full interview → Steve Turtell: Portraits and Places Steve Turtell in conversation with Allen Frame and Michela Palermo April 8, 2026, 6–8PM Printed Matter, 231 11th Avenue New York, NY 10001 📷 John Heys in Lana Turner’s Gown (I), 1979 © 2025 The Peter Hujar Archive / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

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