Forthcoming in 2027 from Intellect Books / University of Chicago Press, edited by Corey Dzenko.

Secretary to the People: Civic Engagement Through the Art of Sheryl Oring

For the past 20 years, Sheryl Oring’s participatory art project I Wish to Say has invited thousands of people to engage in direct, analog dialogue with U.S. presidents through typewritten postcards. As a self-styled "Secretary to the People," Oring sets up a public office and transcribes dictated messages to the White House, preserving a carbon copy for her growing archive. Secretary to the People, published by Intellect Books and edited by Corey Dzenko, chronicles the evolution of this groundbreaking project. Blending Oring’s personal reflections, archival documentation, and new essays by artists, scholars, and collaborators, the book explores how analog tools can catalyze civic discourse in an increasingly digital world.

Secretary to the People offers a powerful meditation on democracy, dissent, and the role of art in public life. As both visual documentation and narrative exploration, the book makes a compelling case for the importance of art as a catalyst for civic participation and social change. 

In a time defined by rage, noise, and relentless technology, Sheryl Oring slows us down and asks us to listen. Her work is not only timely, but absolutely urgent. Secretary to the People captures the necessity of Oring’s work with clarity, depth, and care, making it essential reading for artists and scholars invested in civic engagement, participation, and socially engaged art today.

- Kristina Wong, performance artist and Guggenheim Fellow

Through I Wish to Say and other projects, Sheryl Oring has built a chosen family of artists, students, colleagues, and audiences – and now creates alongside her daughter. To watch this work is to witness a moving generational transfer of vision and purpose. Secretary to the People emboldens the next generation to participate in political processes and artists to use their artmaking for social change.

- Stephanie Elizondo Griest, Art Above Everything

By uplifting individual voices in shared spaces, Sheryl Oring fosters a collective sense of agency and connection. Through varied writings and reflections on Oring’s ever-timely I Wish to Say project, Secretary to the People reminds us of the power of words to shape and challenge democracy, creating a profound sense of belonging and participation in an era when many feel alienated from civic life.

- Charlotte Cohen, Executive Director, Association for Public Art (Philadelphia)

With each keystroke, Sheryl Oring’s I Wish to Say records the histories of our time from a diversity of perspectives. With intellectual rigor, the edited compilation Secretary to the People demonstrates how Oring’s generous and courageous gesture is just as resonant today as when she first set up her public office more than twenty years ago. This book offers both a historical record of Oring’s project as well as a compelling call to action for each of us to resist rising authoritarianism.

- Cynthia Post Hunt, Curator, Artists-in-Residence and Performance, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art & the Momentary