Renee Olander

Poet

Norfolk, VA
Virginia US

Author's Bio

Renée Ellen Olander is author of American Dangerous, a collection of poems, and poetry chapbooks A Few Spells and Wild Flights.  Her poetry and nonfiction have appeared widely, including in the Split This Rock, Heart Online and The Chronicle of Higher Education Poetry Month blogs, anthologies Feminine Rising: Voices of Power and Invisibility, Forgotten Women, and Verse and Universe: Poems About Science and Mathematics, and journals Free State Review, The Café Review, South Loop Review, Hawai’i Pacific Review Best of the Decade, Rhino, Plainswoman, Dogwood Review, Snake~Nation~Review, 5am, and many others.  Born on Naval Base Corpus Christi, Texas, USA, Olander was raised into the military-industrial complex.  Her award-winning work explores intersections including family and military, love and terror, and our human associations with climate change.  Recipient of the Kate Smith Award from Amelia Magazine, the Benn Award for Creative Writing from Mary Baldwin U., and a Pushcart Prize nomination from Sistersong: Women Across Cultures, among other honors, Olander is a longtime advocate for social and environmental justice.  

Publications & Prizes

Anthologies:
Feminine Rising (Cynren Press, 2019)
,
Forgotten Women (Grayson Books, 2017)
,
Hawai'i Pacific Review Best of the Decade 1997-2007 (Hawai'i Pacific Review, 2007)
,
Sea of Voices, Isle of Story (Triple Tree Publishing, 2003)
,
Verse & Universe (Milkweed Editions, 1998)
Book:
American Dangerous (Backlash Press, 2018)
Chapbook:
A Few Spells (Finishing Line Press, 2010)
Journals:
13th Moon
,
5 A.M.
,
Allegheny Review
,
Amelia
,
Artword Quarterly
, ,
California Quarterly
,
Controlled Burn
, , ,
Frisk Magazine
, ,
Margie
, ,
Out of Line
,
Plainswoman
,
Rhino Magazine
,
Satori
,
Sistersong: Women Across Cultures
,
Snake Nation Review
,
South Loop Review
,
Wide Open Magazine
Prizes won: 

Kate Smith Award for Poetry - from AMELIA Magazine, 1988; Benn Award for Creative Writing - from Mary Baldwin U., 1984 & 1983.

Personal Favorites

Favorite authors: 
Sappho, Walt Whitman, June Jordan, Muriel Rukeyser, Anne Waldman, Richard Hoffman, Zora Neale Hurston, Virginia Woolf, Ovid, Natalie Diaz
What I'm reading now: 
The Myth of Normal by Gabor Mate, Unidentified Sighing Objects by Baron Wormser, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
Mixed-Race
Prefers to work with: 
Any, At Risk Youth, Children, Naturalists/Environmentalists, Seniors, Teachers, Teenagers
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Corpus Christi, TX
Texas
Raised in: 
Honolulu, HI
Hawaii
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Jan 25, 2023