fiction.wikisort.org - Writer

Melissa Lozada-Oliva (born September 7, 1992)[1] is an American poet and educator based in New York. Her poem, "Like Totally Whatever" won the 2015 National Poetry Slam Championship, and went viral.[2][3][4][5]

Melissa Lozada-Oliva
Born	(1992-09-07) September 7, 1992 (age 29) Newton, Massachusetts
Occupation	Writer
Alma mater	Simmons University

Life and career

Lozada-Oliva was born and raised in Newton, Massachusetts by immigrant parents; her mother is Guatemalan and her father is Colombian.[6][7] She attended college at Simmons University, where she began to perform slam poetry, and graduated in 2014.[8]

After graduation, she published the chapbooks Plastic Pajaros in 2015 and Rude Girl is Lonely Girl! in 2016. Her performance of a poem called "Like Totally Whatever" won the 2015 National Poetry Slam Championship and received mainstream media coverage.[1][2]

Lozada-Oliva enrolled in New York University's MFA program for Creative Writing in fall 2017. As of spring 2019, she is also teaching a class there.[9] She published Peluda through Button Poetry shortly after enrollment. In it, Lozada-Oliva "explores, interrogates and redefines the intersections of Latina identity, feminism, hair removal & what it means to belong."[9]

In December 2018, Lozada-Oliva started a podcast called Say More along with her best friend and fellow poet Olivia Gatwood. The pair interview each other on topics and answer questions from listeners.[10]

Her verse novel Dreaming of You was released in 2021.[11][12]

Works

Novels

• Dreaming of You (2021)

Poetry

Chapbooks

• Plastic Pajaros (2015)[13]
• Rude Girl is Lonely Girl! (Pizza Pi Press, 2016)[13]
• Peluda (Button Poetry, 2017)[13]

Awards

• 2015 National Poetry Slam Championship[9]
• Brenda Moosey Video Slam winner^{[citation needed]}

References

External links

• Official website

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