Savannah Brown | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | American and British |
Occupation(s) | Poet, author, Twitch streamer |
Years active | 2011–present |
Website | www |
Savannah Brown (born 21 July 1996) is an American-British poet and author.
Brown was born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. [1] She credits the poems of Edgar Allan Poe and her eleventh grade English teacher for cultivating her interest in poetry. [2] She graduated from Wadsworth High School in 2014 then shortly after moved to London. [1]
Brown gained prominence after videos of her performing original poems, one exploring the topic of self-love and another about female sexuality, went viral. [3]
At age 19, Brown self-published a collection of poetry titled Graffiti (and other poems), which was a finalist in the Goodreads Choice Awards. [4] [5] In 2020 she released a second poetry collection called Sweetdark. [6] Writing about Sweetdark for i-D , Jenna Mahale notes the collection "explores how we live vulnerably, pleasurably, and chaotically at the end of the world". [6] In Redbrick, Sam Wait states "Brown has succeeded in writing a collection that, though deeply personal, is universally relatable". [7] Of her poetry, Brown has said "I’m interested in [...] acknowledging that so many small and human things are happening while out of frame there’s, like, a star collapsing". [8] In Our Culture Mag , Konstantinos Pappis describes Brown's work as having "a mix of wry self-awareness and earnest sincerity". [9]
It was announced in 2018 that Brown had signed a two-book deal with Penguin Random House. [10] The first book was published in 2019, a young adult thriller called The Truth About Keeping Secrets about a teenager dealing with intense grief after the sudden death of her father. Brown has said the story was inspired by her own fear of death. [11] The book was generally well-received, a review from Kirkus citing it as a "captivatingly moody, introspective drama". [12] Writing for Booklist , Rob Bittner says Brown's debut "will satisfy fans of mystery who yearn for a proverbial path of breadcrumbs leading to a hopeful, satisfying conclusion". [13] Her second novel The Things We Don't See was released in 2021. [14] Brown's novels are recognized for their LGBT protagonists. [15]
In 2019, Brown started a 30-day poetry challenge called Escapril in which participants are tasked to write an original poem every day of April, which she still runs annually. [16] [17] More than 90,000 poems have been written for the event since. [8]
Brown has also acted as a judge for the National Poetry Day competition run in collaboration with Arts Council England and The Poetry Society. [18]
Brown is autistic [20] and identifies as bisexual. [21] In April 2023, she became a British citizen. [22] She is currently residing in Edinburgh.