Renée Olander
About the Poet
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.
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, and Snake~Nation~Review.
From 1986 until 2022, Olander taught at Old Dominion University, and led a variety of programs and branch locations. She is 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.
Region
Hampton Roads
Virginia City or County Affiliation
Norfolk, VA
Current City/State of Residence
Norfolk, VA
Gender
Female
Race/Ethnicity
White
Keywords/Tags
family and military, love and terror, human associations with climate change
Published Works or Performances
- American Dangerous, Backlash Press, 2018.
- A Few Spells, Finishing Line Press, 2010.
- Wild Flights, Black Bird Press, 2000.
Selected Individual Poems or Performances
- Cover Girl Run for Cover, Turnings: Writing on Women's Transformations, 2000.
- Keeping the Pearls, The Cafe Review, 2010.
- Rhinos Got No Luck, Split This Rock, 2014.
Renée Olander