Alora Young
Spoken word poet and author of Walking Gentry Home
Olivia Gatwood
Poet, educator, and author of Whoever You Are, Honey
Photo credit: Minhee Bae
Olivia Gatwood is a feminist slam poet and author of Whoever You Are, Honey who dissects girlhood, queerness, the intersection of humanity and technology. She tours the country talking about her craft, gender politics, and women's empowerment, and delivering workshops on sexual assault prevention and recovery.
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About Olivia Gatwood
Olivia Gatwood is an award-winning poet, novelist, and speaker whose fierce works about adolescence, feminism, and sexual violence have resonated on the page and screen with audiences everywhere. Her unique voice shines in slam performances that mine her experience for poignant, universal takes on what it is to be a woman in the world. Videos of Gatwood performing poems like “Manic Pixie Dream Girl” and “Alternate Universe in Which I Am Unfazed by the Men Who Do Not Love Me” often go viral, and have gained over 3 million views on YouTube. A believer in the power of language and storytelling, her TEDx talk, “We Find Each Other in the Details,” asks people to reconsider what makes a story significant.
Gatwood’s explosive collection of poetry, Life of the Party, is a dazzling debut about growing up in a sexist, sensationalized world. In precise, blistering, language, Gatwood weaves together her own coming-of-age with an investigation into our culture’s romanticization of violence against women, asking: How does a girl grow into a woman in a world racked by violence? Where is the line between perpetrator and victim?
Gatwood’s newest book, Whoever You Are, Honey? is a darkly brilliant novel that explores how women shape themselves beneath the gaze of love, friendship, and the algorithm. Described as “a fever dream for the AI age” by People, Whoever You Are, Honey is a gripping, seductive, and prescient novel that cements Gatwood as an essential author for our hyper-digital age.
Named one of BBC’s “Women Poets Taking Over the World,” Gatwood urges aspiring writers to “resist brushing off your own life” and indulge in art. As an advocate for Title IX, she teaches workshops that educate young people about consent, sexual assault, and how to maintain healthy, safe relationships. A practiced speaker, Olivia Gatwood has brought her unique performances on feminism, bodily autonomy, and poetry to over two hundred schools and universities.
Along with Life of the Party, she is the author of the poetry chapbook New American Best Friend. Her poems have appeared in such publications as Muzzle magazine, Winter Tangerine, Poetry City, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, and The Missouri Review. A finalist at Brave New Voices, Women of the World Poetry Slam, and the National Poetry Slam, Gatwood has been featured on HBO, HuffPost, MTV, VH1, and the BBC, among other media outlets. Olivia Gatwood is also the co-host, along with Melissa Lozada-Oliva, of Say More, a podcast where the two poets and cultural critics interview guests and each other about anything other than the writing process. Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, she lives in Santa Cruz, California when she is not touring.
Contact us for more information about booking Olivia Gatwood for your next event.
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Speaking Topics
Whoever You Are, Honey
What happens when what was once dystopia has now become reality? In this talk, Gatwood discusses her debut novel, Whoever You Are, Honey. Themes include the convergence of AI and gender politics, and the impact of a rapidly advancing technological world on our relationship to beauty, intimacy, and identity.
Writing Workshops
These hour-long writing workshops are appropriate for students of all-ages and all experience levels. Students will be given the opportunity to work across genre, from poetry to short fiction to screenwriting. They will read the work of both modern and contemporary writers, watch videos, and write to an original prompt. This writing intensive is perfect for poetry clubs, theater classes, English or creative writing classes, spoken word teams and anyone interested in expanding their skill and knowledge as writers. Students will walk away with a completed piece of writing in the genre of their choice.
Women's Empowerment: Title IX Workshops
With extensive experience in Title IX Education, Gatwood prioritizes a safe classroom, accurate information, and immediate tools for prevention, coping, and being an active bystander. Attendees will be given the opportunity to learn about consent, safe sex, rape culture, gendered violence, healthy relationships and accountability.
We Are All Teen Girls: Girlhood, Adolescence, and Sexuality
“When I say that we are all teen girls, what I mean is that when my grandmother called to ask why I didn’t respond to her letter, all I heard was, ‘Why didn’t you text me back? Why don’t you love me?’”
Gatwood’s raw performances draws from the poignant disappointments and fervent hopes of teendom. In this talk, she urges audiences to ask: what makes a story “significant”? Why are we often so quick to dismiss the emotions and motivations of adolescents, especially adolescent girls, when this age can define our adulthood? She explores the intersection of girlhood, adolescence, violence, shame, and power in a revolutionary discussion on the subject of her acclaimed poetry.
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Praise for Olivia Gatwood
Praise for Whoever You Are, Honey
Stunning…Gatwood crafts three-dimensional characters and orchestrates the plot to an unpredictable climax that will leave readers questioning everything…It’s a knockout.
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)Perfect for sweltering summer days that stretch into steamy nights, Olivia Gatwood's Whoever You Are, Honey feels like a fever dream for the AI age.
— PeopleWhoever You Are, Honey is a gripping, heartfelt novel—a moving exploration of unconventional friendships and the desire to be accepted and loved, not in spite of but because of our flaws.
— Kate Folk, author of Out ThereA gorgeous, haunting, tender story of women finding different kinds of love and solace in each other, Whoever You Are, Honey looks directly into the deep, dark depths of what makes us alive—and what sustains that life. I loved every minute of it.
— Gabrielle Korn, author of Yours for the TakingAs lush and hypnotic as a dreampop album, this is an intoxicating debut about two women, each carrying a dark secret, who desire more than they’ve been allowed to want.
— Leigh Stein, author of Self CarePraise for Life of the Party
Life of the Party may have been conceived by terror, but this delicately devastating collection of poems is remarkably fearless. Olivia Gatwood exhumes whispered and willfully forgotten stories, and champions them across the page, making us all ‘feel less alone in the dark.’
— Miel BredouwGatwood writes about the women who were forgotten and the men who got off too easy with an effortlessness and empathy and anger that yanked every emotion on the spectrum out of me. Imagine, we get to live in the age of Olivia Gatwood. Goddamn.
— Jamie Loftus, writer and comedian, Boss Whom Is Girl and The Bechdel CastLife of the Party is an electrifying collection of poems about the agonies and ecstasies of being a young woman.
— Leigh Stein, author of Land of EnchantmentOlivia Gatwood is a revolution of woman, a flurry of insight harnessing the language of self-assessment and acceptance. Her poems invite a contemporary understanding of sexuality and the feminine form, feminism and inclusion, intersection and advocacy. Her metaphors and images are both breath and being. This book is an offering to the silenced, for firepower and reflection. A haystack of hallelujahs resides in these pages.
— Mahogany Browne, author of Black Girl MagicI am stirred by the poems in this book—it is a sharp, unflinching collection of poems about girlhood, wonder, casual everyday violence. Everything true—and disappointing. Memories that we recognize. Everything tragic, stunning, raw.
— Yrsa Daley-Ward, author of bone and The TerriblePraise for New American Best Friend
Olivia Gatwood’s New American Best Friend is, more than anything else, a map of growing up. A summer, a schoolyard, a bouquet of sharp and clever odes, an aching undercurrent of grief. Gatwood is at her best here: blending sharp storytelling with attention to craft, making sure each finish line leaves a reader breathless. These are poems that dig into you, build a home, and stay a while.
— Hanif Abdurraqib, author of The Crown Ain’t Worth MuchOlivia Gatwood’s New American Best Friend is, more than anything else, a map of growing up. A summer, a schoolyard, a bouquet of sharp and clever odes, an aching undercurrent of grief. Gatwood is at her best here: blending sharp storytelling with attention to craft, making sure each finish line leaves a reader breathless. These are poems that dig into you, build a home, and stay a while.
Hanif Abdurraqib, author of The Crown Ain’t Worth Much
“In New American Best Friend, Olivia Gatwood slices with a sharp, keen humor into the beguiling and calamitous experience of American adolescence and young adulthood and honors with stamina and edge the most unsung aspects of our female experience. (See “Ode to My Bitch Face,” “Ode to My Period Underwear,” “Ode to the Word Pussy,” for starters.) I simply couldn’t be more enthusiastic about this poet and her work. These poems are the future.
— Carrie Fountain, author of Burn Lake -
Books by Olivia Gatwood
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Media About Olivia Gatwood
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and Availability
- 212 572-2013
- Olivia Gatwood travels from Santa Cruz, CA
Featured Title
Whoever You Are, Honey
“This book reads like a thriller, but it’s also a tender and searching exploration of what it means to inhabit a female body.”—Kelly Link, author of The Book of Love
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