Alix Olson | |
|---|---|
 Olson in June 2003 | |
| Born | 1975 (age 48–49) Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Oxford College of Emory University professor and spoken word poet |
Alix L. Olson (born 1975 [1] ) is an American poet who works exclusively in spoken word. [2] She uses her work to address issues of capitalism, racism, sexism, homophobia, heterosexism, misogyny, and patriarchy. She identifies as a queer feminist. [3]
Olson was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 1975 to parents who were both politically minded professors and held ideals that she believes were passed along to her. She has recalled early childhood memories sitting under a table coloring protest signs. [3]
Olson attended Stockholm University in 1996. She received a BA from Wesleyan University in 2007 and a PhD in political science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a graduate certificate in advanced feminist studies. [4]
Olson taught as faculty at the Juniper Institute for Young Writers at University of Massachusetts Amherst in Summer 2011 and 2012, at CSU Summer Arts at California State University in Fresno, California, and at the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val Kill's Young Women's Leadership.
In 1997, Olson began performing at the Nuyorican Poets Café, where she helped develop the 1998 Nuyorican poetry slam team. She and fellow Nuyorican team members Lynne Procope, Steve Colman, and Guy LeCharles Gonzalez won the 1998 National Poetry Slam championship in Austin, Texas. [5] Soft Skull Press published Burning Down the House, an anthology that showcased poetry by Olson and her teammates and poetry by Roger Bonair-Agard, the 1998 Nuyorican Team's coach. [6] In 1999, Olson beat Stacey Ann Chin in a slam off, giving her the title of the OUTWRITE slam champion. [7] Olson recorded and published three spoken word CDs: Built Like That (2001), Independence Meal (2004), and Protagonist (2014). She was the subject of the documentary Left Lane: On the Road with Folk Poet Alix Olson, which was released in 2004. [8] [9] In June 2006, Olson co-hosted the Sixth Annual Outmusic Awards with Ari Gold at the Knitting Factory in Rochester, New York. [10]
She is editor of Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution with a foreword by Eve Ensler, a spoken word anthology published in 2007, [11] which features contributions by Patricia Smith, Eileen Myles, Suheir Hammad, Staceyann Chin, Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, Lynn Breedlove, Michelle Tea, and others. [11] Olson's poem "Warrior" is referenced in the book Fight like a Girl: How to be a Fearless Feminist by Megan Seely. [12]
In July 2014, blogger Justyn Hintze wrote about Apple's engraving service, which she felt was exhibiting sexist programming. [13] According to Hintze, the programming came to her attention when she attempted to engrave her new iDevice with an Olson lyric, "I’ll give myself a lube job, shake my broomstick 'til my clit throbs", a lyric Hintze described as "feminist, sex-positive, and it makes me smile. Every. single. time."
The blog and subsequent campaign on Twitter, #MyClitMyChoice, garnered media attention. [14] [15] [16] [17]
Olson's work has been featured on NPR, HBO's Def Poetry Jam , Rachel Maddow's Air America radio show, The New York Times , The Washington Post , Curve magazine, Girlfriends magazine, The Advocate , Out magazine, the Lesbian Review of Books, and other media outlets. [4] She has appeared on the covers of Lambda Book Report, Lavender Lens, Velvet Park magazine, [18] and Ms. magazine. [19] [18] She has spoken to the National Organization for Women, GenderPAC, the Lesbian Summit, and poetry festivals in several countries. In 2004, she performed for at March for Women's Lives in Washington, D.C. [18]
Olson is an assistant professor of women's, gender, and sexuality studies at Oxford College of Emory University in Oxford, Georgia.
bell hooks described Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution (Seal Press, 2007), which Olson edited, as "daring to be heard.. to resurrect you." [4] Historian and activist Howard Zinn called Olson "an ingenious poet, a brilliant performer, a funny person, a serious thinker. Quite simply, extraordinary." [18] A critique in Utne Reader calls Olson "...the spoken word diva everyone's talking about." [18] In describing her live performances, The Progressive calls Olson "an electrifying performer who seduces the audience with wit and energy, spinning tales of life on the road between her fiery poems. A sharpshooter with theatrical flair, Olson oozes both love and rage." The Progressive referenced Olson as a "word warrior", [18] and Ms. Magazine described her as a "road-poet-on-a-mission." [18]
A poetry slam is a competitive art event in which poets perform spoken word poetry before a live audience and a panel of judges. While formats can vary, slams are often loud and lively, with audience participation, cheering and dramatic delivery.
Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of recitation and word play, such as the performer's live intonation and voice inflection. Spoken word is a "catchall" term that includes any kind of poetry recited aloud, including poetry readings, poetry slams, jazz poetry, pianologues, musical readings, and hip hop music, and can include comedy routines and prose monologues. Unlike written poetry, the poetic text takes its quality less from the visual aesthetics on a page, but depends more on phonaesthetics, or the aesthetics of sound.
Edwin Torres is a Nuyorican performance poet. His work incorporates vocal and physical improvisation. He is the author of Ameriscopia, One Night: Poems for the Sleepy, Yes Thing No Thing, and several other poetic books. He also has produced recordings titled Oceano Rise, Novo, and Holy Kid. He is a member of the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E school.
Paul Beatty is an American author and an associate professor of writing at Columbia University. In 2016, he won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Booker Prize for his novel The Sellout. It was the first time a writer from the United States was honored with the Man Booker.
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Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry, better known as simply Def Poetry Jam or Def Poetry, is a spoken word poetry television series hosted by Mos Def and airing on HBO between 2002 and 2007. The series features performances by established and up-and-coming spoken word poets. Performances also include special appearances by well-known actors and musicians, as well as occasional performances by Mos Def himself. Co-created by Bruce George, Danny Simmons, Deborah Pointer, Stan Lathan, and Russell Simmons, the show is a spin-off of the popular Def Comedy Jam which began airing on HBO in the 1990s. As with Def Comedy, Simmons appears at the end of every episode to thank the audience.
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Lynne Procope is a Trinidadian-born American poet. She is one of the founders of the louderARTS Project. In 1998, Procope made the 1998 Nuyorican Poetry Slam team. She and her fellow Nuyorican team members Alix Olson, Steve Coleman and Guy LeCharles Gonzalez would go on to win the 1998 National Poetry Slam Championship that year in Austin, TX. This championship would lead to Soft Skull Press publishing the anthology Burning Down the House which showcased poetry by Olson, Procope, Coleman and Gonzalez as well as poetry by the 1998 Nuyorican Team's coach, Roger Bonair-Agard. Her best known poems include "Elemental Woman", "Flectere" and "Evidence of Injury". Her writing focuses on the human experience of women and marginalized groups.
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