Andy Towle

{{short description|American journalist}} {{Multiple issues| {{BLP sources|date=October 2009}} {{Lead too short|date=February 2020}} {{COI|date=June 2024}} }} {{Infobox person | name = Andy Towle | image = Andy Towle on the Great South Bay of Long Island.jpg | caption = Towle on the Great South Bay of Long Island | birth_date =  | birth_place =  | occupation = {{hlist|Artist|writer|publisher|media commentator}} | education = Vassar College (BA) | website = {{URL|andytowle.com}} }}

'''Andy Towle''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|t|oʊ|l}} born in Illinois in 1967 is an American artist, poet and journalist based in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He has received several fellowships for his poetry and fiction, and his poetry has been published in journals including ''The Paris Review''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Andrew Towle |url=https://www.theparisreview.org/authors/3088/andrew-towle |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=The Paris Review |language=en}}</ref> and ''Poetry'' magazine. He founded the LGBTQ news blog ''Towleroad''<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kearns |first=Pat |date=2024-06-19 |title=Three Provincetown Painters Display Whimsy, Masculinity, and Identity |url=https://provincetownindependent.org/arts-minds/2024/06/19/three-provincetown-painters-display-whimsy-masculinity-and-identity/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAabDjamaS2-NVSu8J2OF3wUTOdGDQNESOeVyVrrDtHX0MroKXCPeVM6JUP8_aem_M73aKtsPjWGBg9almuRyTA |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=The Provincetown Independent |language=en-US}}</ref> and as of 2025 was working as a painter.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-06-25 |title=NEW PAINTINGS BY ANDY TOWLE |url=https://www.provincetowncommons.org/commons-events/trevormikula-blc2f-dcdlr |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=The Commons |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Background == Towle was born in River Forest, Chicago, Illinois, in 1967.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kearns |first=Pat |date=2024-06-19 |title=Three Provincetown Painters Display Whimsy, Masculinity, and Identity |url=https://provincetownindependent.org/arts-minds/2024/06/19/three-provincetown-painters-display-whimsy-masculinity-and-identity/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAabDjamaS2-NVSu8J2OF3wUTOdGDQNESOeVyVrrDtHX0MroKXCPeVM6JUP8_aem_M73aKtsPjWGBg9almuRyTA |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=The Provincetown Independent |language=en-US}}</ref> He attended Oak Park and River Forest High School, graduating in 1985. Towle holds two Bachelor of Arts degrees from Vassar College (1989) in art history and English.

== Career == [[File:Andy Towle at the New York City Proposition 8 protest.jpg|thumb|Towle was one of the organizers of a large New York City demonstration against California Proposition 8.<ref name=Towleroad>[https://www.towleroad.com/2008/11/we-did-it.html NYC Protest and Civil Rights March Opposing Proposition 8], Andy Towle, Towelroad.com, November 13, 2008; accessed November 14, 2008.</ref>]]

Upon graduating, Towle was awarded the 1989 W.K. Rose Fellowship in the Creative Arts from Vassar College.<ref>{{Cite web |title=WK Rose Fellows - Fellowships and Pre-Health Advising - Vassar College |url=https://fellowships.vassar.edu/fellowships/graduates/rose/fellowslist.html |access-date=2020-02-06 |website=fellowships.vassar.edu}}</ref> He also received a Wallace Stegner graduate fellowship from 1989 to 1991 from Stanford University,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Former Stegner Fellows |url=https://creativewriting.stanford.edu/stegner-fellowship/current-fellows/former-stegner-fellows |access-date=2020-02-06 |website=creativewriting.stanford.edu}}</ref> and two writing fellowships, one in poetry and one in fiction, from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=All Fellows Alphabetical |url=https://fawc.org/all-fellows-alphabetical/ |access-date=2024-07-29 |website=FINE ARTS WORK CENTER in Provincetown |language=en-US}}</ref>

While in Provincetown he produced poetry, and worked as a pool boy and a bartender at The Boatslip resort. After moving to New York in 1992, he became a bartender and later a manager at the 1990s Manhattan gay bar Splash.{{cn|date=February 2026}}

From 1998 to 2002, Towle served as the editor in chief of ''Genre'' magazine,<ref name="BuzinksiZeigler2007">{{cite book|author1=Jim Buzinski|author2=Cyd Zeigler|title=The Outsports Revolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zc61AAAAIAAJ|year=2007|publisher=Alyson|isbn=978-1-59350-005-4}}</ref> and editor at large for ''The Out Traveler'',<ref name="Maynard-bio">{{cite web|title=Andy Towle|url=http://mije.org/features/lgbtqia-2013/andy-towle|website=The Maynard Institute|access-date=26 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813033047/http://mije.org/features/lgbtqia-2013/andy-towle|archive-date=13 August 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> an American gay travel quarterly.

Towle's poetry appeared in ''The Yale Review'' (May 1991),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://yalereview.yale.edu/volume-lxxix-no-4-may-1991-summer-1990|title=VOLUME LXXIX, NO. 4 (May 1991-Summer 1990)|date=2015-07-09|website=The Yale Review|language=en|access-date=2020-02-06}}</ref> ''Ploughshares'' (Winter 1992–93),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pshares.org/issues/winter-1992-93/hard-evidence|title=Hard Evidence {{!}} Ploughshares|website=www.pshares.org|access-date=2020-02-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pshares.org/issues/winter-1992-93/sea-migration|title=Sea Migration {{!}} Ploughshares|website=www.pshares.org|access-date=2020-02-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pshares.org/issues/winter-1992-93/consideration-white-pitcher|title=In Consideration: The White Pitcher {{!}} Ploughshares|website=www.pshares.org|access-date=2020-02-06}}</ref> ''The Paris Review'' in 2000,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theparisreview.org/poetry/609/two-poems-andrew-towle|title=Two Poems|last=Towle|first=Andrew|journal=Paris Review|date=2000|access-date=2020-02-06|issue=157|volume=Winter 2000|language=en|issn=0031-2037}}</ref> and in ''Poetry Magazine'' (July 1988,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse|title=Between Stations by Andrew Towle {{!}} Nocturne by Andrew Towle|last=Foundation|first=Poetry|date=2020-02-06|website=Poetry Magazine|language=en|access-date=2020-02-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse|title=Between Stations by Andrew Towle|last=Foundation|first=Poetry|date=2020-02-06|website=Poetry Magazine|language=en|access-date=2020-02-06}}</ref> November 1988,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse|title=The Dead Sea at Dinner by Andrew Towle|last=Foundation|first=Poetry|date=2020-02-06|website=Poetry Magazine|language=en|access-date=2020-02-06}}</ref> February 1991,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse|title=Luna Moth by Andrew Towle|last=Foundation|first=Poetry|date=2020-02-06|website=Poetry Magazine|language=en|access-date=2020-02-06}}</ref> May 1997,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse|title=Vanished by Andrew Towle|last=Foundation|first=Poetry|date=2020-02-06|website=Poetry Magazine|language=en|access-date=2020-02-06}}</ref> and July 1999).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse|title=Objects of Desire by Andrew Towle|last=Foundation|first=Poetry|date=2020-02-06|website=Poetry Magazine|language=en|access-date=2020-02-06}}</ref>

Towle founded the website ''Towleroad'' in 2003<ref name="Publishing2006">{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tGQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20|title=The Advocate|author=Here Publishing|journal=The Advocate: The National Gay & Lesbian Newsmagazine|date=6 June 2006|publisher=Here Publishing|pages=20–|issn=0001-8996}}</ref> and left in 2021<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-02-28 |title=It's Time: A Message From Andy Towle - Towleroad Gay News |url=https://www.towleroad.com/2021/02/its-time-a-message-from-andy-towle/ |access-date=2024-07-29 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Gay Blogger Andy Towle Exits Towleroad |url=https://www.advocate.com/media/2021/3/03/gay-blogger-andy-towle-exits-towleroad |access-date=2024-07-29 |website=www.advocate.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Zeigler |first=Cyd |title=Thank you, Andy Towle, for over two decades of amazing work in gay media |url=https://www.outsports.com/2021/3/2/22308152/andy-towle-towleroad-retires/ |access-date=2024-07-29 |website=OutSports |language=en}}</ref> to focus full time on a career in visual art.

In June 2024, Towle exhibited new paintings at Provincetown Commons in Provincetown, Massachusetts, alongside artists Trevor Mikula and Josh Wilmoth.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kearns |first=Pat |date=2024-06-19 |title=Three Provincetown Painters Display Whimsy, Masculinity, and Identity |url=https://provincetownindependent.org/arts-minds/2024/06/19/three-provincetown-painters-display-whimsy-masculinity-and-identity/ |access-date=2024-07-29 |website=The Provincetown Independent |language=en-US}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.towleroad.com/ Towleroad.com]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Towle, Andy}} Category:American bloggers Category:American magazine editors Category:American gay writers Category:Living people Category:LGBTQ people from New York (state) Category:20th-century American journalists Category:20th-century American male journalists Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers Category:American male bloggers Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people