The James Robert Brudner ‘83 Memorial Prize, established in 2000, is awarded annually to an accomplished scholar, artist, or activist whose work has made significant contributions for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and sexual minority communities. The Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies, and the Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies faculty are honored to present this prize to Eli Clare for 2025-26.
Eli Clare is a white, disabled, and genderqueer scholar who lives near Lake Champlain in unceded Abenaki territory (also known as Vermont) where he writes and proudly claims a penchant for rabble-rousing. He has written two books of essays, the award-winning Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling with Cure and Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation, and a collection of poetry, The Marrow’s Telling: Words in Motion. Additionally he has been published in dozens of journals and anthologies. Eli works as a traveling poet, storyteller, and social justice educator. He currently serves on the Community Advisory Board for the Disability Project at the Transgender Law Center and is also a Disability Futures Fellow (funded by the Ford Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation). Among other pursuits, he has walked across the United States for peace, coordinated a rape prevention program, and helped organize the first ever Queer Disability Conference.
Eli Clare’s Brudner Prize Lectures will take place in New York City on Wednesday, September 17 at 7:00 PM at The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center (208 West 13th Street), and in New Haven on Thursday, September 18 at 6:00 PM in LORIA 250 & on Zoom.