Alix Olson
| Alix Olson | |
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| Born | 1975 Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Occupation | Spoken word poet |
Alix L. 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, racism, sexism, homophobia, heterosexism, misogyny, and patriarchy. She identifies as a queer feminist.
Alix Olson's parents were both politically-minded professors, ideals she believed were passed along to her, as she recalls some of her earliest memories involving sitting under a table coloring protest signs.
In 1997, Olson began performing at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, where she quickly made the 1998 Nuyorican Poetry Slam team. She and her fellow Nuyorican team members Lynne Procope, Steve Colman and Guy LeCharles Gonzalez would go on to win the 1998 National Poetry Slam Championship 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. In 1999 Alix Olson beat Stacey Ann Chin in a slam off giving her the title of the OUTWRITE slam champion.
Olson went on to record and publish three spoken word CDs Built Like That (2001), Independence Meal (2004) and Protagonist (2014). Olson was the subject of the documentary Left Lane: On the Road with Folk Poet Alix Olson, which was released in 2005 and directed by Samantha Farinella. "Making cameos on the DVD are Holly Near and Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls and Patricia Ireland, the former director of the National Organization for Women." On June 11, 2006, Alix Olson co-hosted the Sixth Annual Outmusic Awards with Ari Gold (musician), at the Knitting Factory in Rochester, New York. She is also the editor of the spoken word anthology, Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution with a foreword by Eve Ensler. This collection of essays and poetry was published by Seal Press in 2007 and features work from artists such as Patricia Smith, Eileen Myles, Sarah Jones, Suheir Hammad, Staceyann Chin, Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, Lynn Breedlove and Michelle Tea. Additionally, Alix Olson's poem "Warrior" is referenced in the book Fight like a Girl: How to be a Fearless Feminist by Megan Seely.
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