MENTIONS & APPEARANCES

Jun 11, 2024
Video
Lecture: Body Partings—The Art of Christina Ramberg
In this exploration of Christina Ramberg’s work, artist and author Riva Lehrer discusses Ramberg’s artistic production through the lenses of disability activism, gender queerness, monster theory, and the creative process.

Aug 24, 2023
Video
The Peculiar Book Club: Be Peculiar with Riva Lehrer, the Artist behind GOLEM GIRL!
Riva discusses Golem Girl with The Peculiar Book Club. What do we sacrifice in the pursuit of #normalcy? And what becomes possible when we embrace monstrosity? Can we envision a world that sees impossible creatures?

Jul 15, 2022
Video
In Celebration of Pride: A Conversation with Riva Lehrer and Achy Obejas
Join PORTAL, the National Portrait Gallery’s Scholarly Center, for a dialogue between artist and educator Riva Lehrer and the subject of her piece in the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, Havana-born writer Achy Obejas. As a part of the Tommie L. Pegues and Donald A. Capoccia Conversation Series in LGBTQ+ Portraiture, this event will explore themes related to queer identity and disability. Moderated by the National Portrait Gallery's curator of painting, sculpture & Latinx art Taína Caragol and historian Mindy Farmer, the conversation will also examine Lehrer’s method for creating Obejas’ portrait and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jan 2, 2022
Book Review
Los Angeles Review of Books
Define Yourself: Riva Lehrer’s and Jan Grue’s Disability Memoirs

Oct 31, 2021
Article
The New York Times: Opinion by Riva Lehrer
I'm Done With the Costumes That Hid the 'Monster' Beneath

Oct 29, 2021
Article
Finalists Announced in Sixth Triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition
The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery has announced the finalists in the sixth triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. Their work will be presented in “The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today,” a major exhibition premiering at the National Portrait Gallery from April 30, 2022, through Feb. 26, 2023, before traveling to other cities in the United States.

Oct 27, 2021
Podcast
BBC World Service: Outlook Podcast
American artist Riva Lehrer was born with spina bifida. She endured countless medical procedures through her childhood and adolescence and was told she would never have a job, a romantic relationship or an independent life. But everything changed when as an adult Riva was invited to join the Disabled Artists Collective, a group of artists, writers and performers who were challenging myths around disability in their work. She tells Emily Webb how she began to paint their portraits - and through her art started to transform the stories she’d been told about herself. (This interview contains language that some listeners might find offensive)

Jul 26, 2021
Podcast, Video
Arts Letters & Numbers
Artist and Disability Activist Riva Lehrer in conversation with Lawrence Weschler

Dec 10, 2020
Article
The New York Times: Opinion by Riva Lehrer
The Virus Has Stolen Your Face From Me

Oct 30, 2020
Video
Chicago Humanities Festival with David Mitchell
Riva engages in fascinating conversation with David Mitchell

Oct 23, 2020
Podcast
School of the Art Institute of Chicago Interview
Riva speaks to SAIC about her art, stigmatized identities, and the challenge of writing a memoir.

Oct 21, 2020
Podcast
This is the Author Podcast
Meet the Author with Penguin Random House

Oct 15, 2020
Video
One World Ideas x Action: Art as Resistance
Riva in conversation with artist Molly Crabapple, moderated by publisher Christopher Jackson.

Oct 15, 2020
Article
Publishers Weekly: Disability Futures Fellows
Ford, Mellon Team to names Riva a Disability Futures Fellow

Oct 15, 2020
Article
Golem Girl named CHIRBy Award Finalist
Chicago Review of Books has named Golem Girl as a finalist for the CHIRBy Award in the category of Nonfiction.

Oct 14, 2020
Article
Lit Hub
Lit Hub's The Hub announces Disability Futures Fellows

Oct 14, 2020
Article
NYT: Disability Futures Initiative Announced
Riva is honored to be among the winners of the first Disability Futures initiative, a new fellowship established by the Ford Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support disabled artists.

Oct 13, 2020
Video, Podcast
Open Book with Scott Simon
Riva visits with NPR's Scott Simon and family on Open Book.

Oct 10, 2020
Podcast
NPR Weekend Edition Interview
Scott Simon speaks to Riva about her new book, which recounts a life growing up with spina bifida.

Oct 8, 2020
Book Review
Jewish Journal Review
The Jewish Journal reviews Golem Girl

Oct 1, 2020
Book Review
Amazon Book Review
Golem Girl named one of Amazon's Best Books of October

Sep 30, 2020
Article
Lambda Literary
Golem Girl named October's Most Anticipated LGBTQ Books

Sep 25, 2020
Video
Curatorial Talks: Riva Lehrer and Terry R. Myers
Riva in conversation with Los Angeles-based writer and independent curator Terry R. Myers .

Sep 16, 2020
Book Review
Kirkus Book Review: Golem Girl
Kirkus declares Golem Girl, "An extraordinary memoir suffused with generosity, consistent insight, and striking artwork."

Sep 11, 2020
Article
Publisher Press Release: Golem Girl
Golem Girl was published by the One World imprint of Penguin/Random House. Christopher Jackson, publisher and senior editor, has established One World as a powerful home for literary social justice. Authors include Ta-Nehisi Coates, Ibram X Kendi, and Mira Jacob.

Aug 27, 2020
Mention: Code of the Freaks
Shout out from the folks at Code of the Freaks

Nov 11, 2014
Video
Chicago Humanities Festival, Riva Lehrer: A Self-Portrait in Formaldehyde
For her entire life, Chicago artist Riva Lehrer has been confronted with descriptions of her body as stunted, twisted, or deformed. These encounters have pushed her to question how to depict the human form, both as a portraitist and as a lecturer in anatomy at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. With a combination of brutal honesty, whimsy, and acceptance of the unknown, Lehrer explores the variant body, the divide between inner and outer life, and the mystery of survival.