Olivia Gatwood

Olivia Gatwood (born February 23, 1992) is a poet, writer, activist, and educator on topics that include coming of age, feminism, gendered violence, & true crime.

Olivia Gatwood by Alissa Wyle
Olivia Gatwood
Born (1992-02-23) February 23, 1992
Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.
OccupationPoet
NationalityAmerican
Website
www.oliviagatwood.com

Early life and education

Olivia Gatwood was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico on February 23, 1992, the daughter of Jill and Byron Gatwood. She spent three years in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago where she began writing poetry at age 11 at the suggestion of a librarian.[1] Gatwood's continued interest in poetry stemmed from her use of the art form as an outlet for her emotions; in an interview she explained, "teenagers have a lot of feelings and thoughts, but are often told that there's no space for those things to exist. But spoken word is the exact opposite. The more you can express, the better."[2]

While still in high school, Gatwood lead a collection of women who reported a local bakery to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for sexual harassment and won a settlement of over $10,000.[3]

Gatwood graduated from the Pratt Institute's fiction program in 2015.[2]

Career

Gatwood is a poet, writer, activist, speaker, and educator on topics that include sexual assault prevention and recovery.[4] Gatwood was a finalist at Brave New Voices, Women of the World and the National Poetry Slam. Her performances have been featured on HBO, Huffington Post, MTV, VH1, and BBC among others. Her work has been featured in Muzzle Magazine, The Winter Tangerine Review, Poetry City U.S.A., Tinderbox Poetry Journal, and The Missouri Review.

Gatwood and fellow poet Megan Falley created an interactive show called Speak Like a Girl, a traveling poetry show that focuses on gender issues, body image, growing up and other topics. The pair has performed "Speak Like a Girl" in cities across the United States, including Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and Detroit.[2]

Gatwood is the author of two poetry collections, New American Best Friend (2017) and Life of the Party (2019). She also contributed to Woke: A Young Poet's Call to Justice (2020, with Mahogany L. Browne and Elizabeth Acevedo).[5] Her first novel, Whoever You Are, Honey, is set to be released by The Dial Press at Random House in early 2022.

Works

New American Best Friend

After numerous published poems, Gatwood presented her first published collection, New American Best Friend.[6] In it, Gatwood wrote about her childhood, the transition from teenage years to young adulthood, her views on gender and sexuality, and the violence and joys in her life.[6] She has said that she wrote the poems in the book as "an effort to celebrate ones body", and included the short poems "Ode to my Bitch Face", "Like Us, and "The First Shave".

In 2017, New American Best Friend was nominated for the Goodreads Choice Awards Best Poetry.[7]

Life of the Party

Life of the Party interrogates the author's relationship to fear and true crime, as well as the media's obsession with the murder of women. It was published in August 2019 by Penguin Random House.[8]

Podcast

In December 2018, Gatwood started the podcast, Say More, with "her best friend and fellow poet", Melissa Lozada-Oliva, in which they interview each other on topics and answer emailed questions from listeners. It had presented its fortieth episode by the end of 2019.[9]

The second season of the podcast began March 4, 2020 with episode 41, "AMERICAN DIRT, REPRESENTATION & TECH BROS."[10]

Selected poems

Many of her recorded readings can be found on Gatwood's website and at buttonpoetry.com. Among her most widely recognized and lauded poems are the following:

  • "Jordan Convinced Me That Pads Were Disgusting" (2016)[11]
  • "When The Prettiest Girl in School Asks to Play Cricket at Recess" (2016)[12]
  • "Bubblegum or Bruise" (2016)[12]
  • "Hey Science" (2016)[13]
  • "Liberty" (2016)[12]
  • "Two Poems" (2017)
  • "Poetry Suite" (2017)
  • "Ode to the Women on Long Island" (2017)[14]
  • Aileen Wurnos Takes A Lover Home (2019)[8][15]
  • "Back-pedal" (2019)[8]
  • All Of The Missing Girls Are Hanging Out Without Us (2019)[8][15]
  • Girl (2019)[8][15]
  • Mans/Laughter (2019)[8][15]
  • Murder Of A Little Beauty (2019)[8][15]
  • My Grandmother Asks Why I Don't Trust Men (2019)[8][15]
  • My Mother Says I Wasn't A Bad Girl (2019)[8][15]
  • Ode To Pink (2019)[8][15]
  • "The Autocross" (2019)[8]
  • She Lit Up Every Room She Walked Into (2019)[8][15]
  • We All Got Burnt That Summer (2019)[8][15]
  • "Alternate Universe in Which I am Unfazed by the Men Who do Not Love Me"
  • "Manic Pixie Dream Girl"
  • "Ode to my Bitch Face"[16]

Personal life

As of December 2019, Gatwood resides in Santa Cruz, California, in the United States.[17]

References
  1. Tardiff, Sara; Gatwood, Olivia; et al. (April 24, 2017). "Five Spoken Word Poets Whose Work Will Change You: Olivia Gatwood" (interview). Nylon.com. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  2. Abelis, Ona (June 29, 2015). "Speak Like a Girl: Two of Brooklyn's Best Feminist Poets Take Their Show on the Road". Brooklyn Magazine. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
  3. Balsamo, Adriana (January 7, 2020). "Olivia Gatwood, a Poet With a YouTube Following, Branches Out" (article). New York Times. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
  4. Fosler-Jones, Elizabeth (April 7, 2017). "Spoken Word Poet and Activist Olivia Gatwood to Speak on Feminism, Sexual Assault". The Bowdoin Orient. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  5. "Woke | Mahogany L. Browne | Macmillan". US Macmillan. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
  6. Bastress, Samantha (Oct 19, 2017). "BookMark: "New American Best Friend" by Olivia Gatwood". radio.wpsu.org. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  7. "Announcing the Goodreads Choice Winner in Best Poetry!". Goodreads.
  8. PRH Staff (January 9, 2020). Life of the Party by Olivia Gatwood. Penguin Random House (PRH). ISBN 9781984801906. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  9. Gatwood, Olivia & Lozada-Oliva, Melissa (January 8, 2020). "Say More" (podcast). iTunes.Apple.com. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  10. Gatwood, Olivia & Lozada-Oliva, Melissa (March 23, 2020). "Say More" (podcast). iTunes.Apple.com. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
  11. Gatwood, Olivia (Winter 2016). "Jordan Convinced Me That Pads Were Disgusting". Muzzle [magazine] (17). Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  12. https://www.wintertangerine.com/moc-toc
  13. Vagianos, Alanna (February 3, 2016). "The Perfect Response To Science's Sexist Approach To Women's Bodies". Huffington Post. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  14. Uda, Rachel (July 24, 2017). "Poet's Ode to LI Women Shared by 'Star Trek' Star, Goes Viral". Newsday. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  15. Each of these poems were performed by Gatwood at an author's book reading for Life of the Party in Brooklyn, NY. See Gatwood, Olivia (September 5, 2019). Olivia Gatwood performs poems from LIFE OF THE PARTY, The Bell House, Brooklyn (streaming video). New York, NY: Penguin Random House. Retrieved January 9, 2020. and the Further reading... section below.
  16. Hatch, Jenavieve (April 7, 2016). "One Poet's Ode To Her Resting Bitch Face". Huffington Post. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  17. Gatwood, Olivia (9 January 2020). "Home: About" (personal website). oliviagatwood.com. Retrieved January 9, 2020.

Further reading and viewing
  • Albert, Victoria & Gatwood, Olivia (February 17, 2018). "Poet Olivia Gatwood Writes Like Teen Spirit: BUST Interview". BUST.com. Archived from the original on 2018-02-17. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  • Gatwood, Olivia (September 5, 2019). Olivia Gatwood performs poems from LIFE OF THE PARTY, The Bell House, Brooklyn (streaming video). New York, NY: Penguin Random House. Retrieved January 9, 2020. 0:00—Girl; 3:00—My Mother Says I Wasn’t A Bad Girl; 6:15—We All Got Burnt That Summer; 9:15—My Grandmother Asks Why I Don’t Trust Men; 12:06 Mans/Laughter; 16:40—Murder Of A Little Beauty; 18:05—She Lit Up Every Room She Walked Into; 20:38—Aileen Wurnos Takes A Lover Home; 24:10—Ode To Pink; 26:23—All Of The Missing Girls Are Hanging Out Without Us.
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