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Search - List of Books by Alix Olson

Alix Olson (born 1975 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) is an American poet who works exclusively in spoken word. She graduated from Wesleyan University in 1997 and uses her work to address issues of capitalism, sexism, homophobia, heterosexism, transphobia, misogyny, and patriarchy. She identifies as a lesbian, socialist feminist.

In 1997, Olson began performing at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, where she eventually made the 1998 Nuyorican Poetry Slam team. She and her fellow Nuyorican team members Lynne Procope, 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.

Olson's work has also been published in several publications including Emanuel Xavier's Bullets & Butterflies: queer spoken word poetry (Suspect Thoughts, 2005) and Amy Sonnie's Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology (Alyson Publications, 2000). She has been a headliner on HBO's Def Poetry, and is the subject of a documentary film, Left Lane: On the Road with Folk Poet Alix Olson by Samantha Farinella.

She most recently edited the spoken word anthology, Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution. The book, published by Seal Press in 2007, featured essays and poetry from poets such as Patricia Smith, Eileen Myles, Sarah Jones, Suheir Hammad, Staceyann Chin, Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, Lynn Breedlove and Michelle Tea, among others.

Discography   more

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Alix Olson", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0
Total Books: 3
Burning Down the House  Selected Poems from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe's National Poetry Slam Champions
Will Work For Peace New Political Poems
Will Work for Peace New Political Poems (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780966645910
ISBN-10: 096664591X
Genres: Literature & Fiction, Teen & Young Adult
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Built Like That The Word
Built Like That the Word (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780972856805
ISBN-10: 0972856803
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