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Inspiration July 22, 2019
Meet Olivia Gatwood: poet, educator, cultural critic, and so much more.
Picture via Twitter/@oliviagatwoodPerhaps best-known for her spoken word featured on Button Poetry, Olivia Gatwood may be the most famous poet you’ve never heard of.
Her first chapbook (a small paperback booklet containing a shorter collection of poetry), New American Best Friend, was released in 2017. Life of the Party, her second collection, is coming in August of 2019.
But the woman that Olivia Gatwood is beyond her title of “poet” is even more impressive. Allow me to introduce you to Olivia Gatwood as an educator, cultural critic and performer.
Olivia offers writing, performance and community-building workshops. As a nationally-recognized poet, Olivia Gatwood’s workshops introduce students to modern and contemporary poets through reading and videos.
She also gives an original poetry prompt to everyone in the workshop.
What’s more impressive is Gatwood’s extensive experience in Title IX Compliant education. When asked about her teenage years in an interview, Gatwood says “I was really passionate about things that I saw that felt unjust”. That passion inspired her education on the topics of consent, rape culture, gendered violence and the like.
With her up-and-coming fame, she is already establishing a platform of safety and education for young people. Beyond her honest and expository poetry, she takes action to make a difference through education. Book a workshop if you are in a group that is interested in poetry, spoken word or Title IX Compliant education.
One of Olivia Gatwood’s more recent endeavors is her podcast SAY MORE with Melissa Lozada-Oliva.
After many interviews touching only on their writing, Olivia and Melissa decided to take matters into their own hands. Although proud of their poetry and happy to share their knowledge, Olivia and Melissa felt that they had much more to talk about than just their writing practices. The friends started a conversational podcast in 2019 to talk about topics surrounding life as a woman and everything else that comes to mind.
The podcasts, like her poetry, help normalize conversations about topics that are often left unmentioned in public. Olivia Gatwood’s focus is always to let girls know they are not alone in their thoughts and feelings.
Another talent of Olivia Gatwood is her ability to perform spoken word (a word-based performance art). While this does fall under the poetry umbrella, performing requires a whole other skillset. Olivia Gatwood is a nationally touring poet.
In September, she will begin her Life of the Party tour. Special guests Ari Chi and Cailin Nolte will be joining her on stage. The tour will be running through the month of September and into October. As promoted by Olivia Gatwood, “poetry shows are fun. I promise.” To go the full experience of Olivia Gatwood as an artist, I would recommend seeing her perform in addition to reading her poetry.
“Poet” is Olivia Gatwood’s most common title—and a respectable one at that. However, she is so clearly more than that. Feminist, activist, educator: Olivia Gatwood deserves praise for all that she does as a poet and an all-around woman in the community.
