Melissa Lozada-Oliva
Born (1992-09-07) September 7, 1992
Newton, Massachusetts
OccupationWriter
Alma materSimmons University

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]

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 was 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 published by Astra House in 2021.[11][12] In 2023, her first prose novel Candelaria was published by Astra House.[13]

Works

Novels

  • Dreaming of You. Astra House. 2021. ISBN 978-1-662-60059-3.
  • Candelaria. Astra House. 2023. ISBN 978-1-662-60180-4.

Poetry

Chapbooks
  • Plastic Pajaros. Pizza Pi Press. 2015.
  • Rude Girl is Lonely Girl!. Pizza Pi Press. 2016.
  • Peluda. Button Poetry. 2017. ISBN 978-1-943735-24-2.

Awards

  • 2015 National Poetry Slam Championship[9]
  • Brenda Moosey Video Slam winner

References

  1. 1 2 Moreno, Carolina (2015-07-09). "Latina Poet Has a Powerful Answer to 'Are You Fluent in Spanish?'". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  2. 1 2 Cueto, Emma. "This Powerful Poem Takes On The Speech Police". Bustle. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  3. ↑ "STRENGTH OF DOVES | Melissa Lozada-Oliva". STRENGTH OF DOVES | Spoken Word Poetry. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  4. ↑ Lo, Danica. "The Way Women Speak: Melissa Lozada-Oliva's Poetry Will Inspire You". Glamour. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  5. ↑ Nelson, Jenny. "Melissa Lozada-Olivia (@ellomelissa) on Nihilistic Humor and Being an Alien". Vulture. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  6. ↑ "Interview: Melissa Lozada-Oliva". HerStry. Retrieved 2019-07-18.
  7. ↑ "Melissa Lozada-Oliva". Washington Square News. 2018-10-11. Retrieved 2019-07-18.
  8. ↑ "10 Questions With Melissa Lozada-Oliva". Mad Girl's Collective. Retrieved 2019-07-18.
  9. 1 2 3 Lozado-Oliva, Melissa. "About Melissa Lozada-Oliva". Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  10. ↑ "SAY MORE". saymore.libsyn.com. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  11. ↑ "In 'Dreaming of You,' poet Melissa Lozada-Oliva reimagines Selena's legacy". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-11-04.
  12. ↑ Oliva, Alejandra. "In 'Dreaming of You,' Author Melissa Lozada-Oliva Uses Selena's Ghost to Deconstruct the Myth of Latinidad". www.refinery29.com. Retrieved 2021-11-04.
  13. ↑ "CANDELARIA | Kirkus Reviews". Kirkus Reviews. August 12, 2023. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
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