By Georgia Sparling
With a focus on feminism and class issues, spoken-word poet and author Melissa Lozada-Oliva visits campus on April 12 at 7 p.m. for the annual Lesley Literary Arts Festival, hosted by Sigma Tau Delta.
A National Slam Poetry winner and author of three books, the Boston-based poet has gained a following with her passionate, humorous and gut-punching autobiographical pieces on feminism, class, family, the immigrant experience and, occasionally, love gone wrong (and likened to infected tonsils).
“I feel compelled to write about feminism because I say sorry every day when I don’t have to. I write about class and immigrant experience and love gone wrong because I’m a child of working-class immigrants who had a bad divorce,” says the poet.
Lozada-Oliva began performing slam poetry during college, drawn into the emotional and energetic storytelling aspects of the medium.
“It’s a form that let me combine humor and sadness in a way that I love,” she says.
She often performs for students the same age she was when she got her start in slam.
“Performing for college students is fun because college students are so friggin’ passionate about things! They’re constantly digesting stuff about how the world is messed up and … being like ‘um oh yeah that was weird.’ Then I come and I’m all loud and confirming these weird things,” Lozada-Oliva says.
Sigma Tau Delta President and senior Cheyenne McDonald chose Lozada-Oliva for this exact reason.
“She speaks to the diversity in all the pockets of Lesley that may or may not be represented on a daily basis,” McDonald says.
She hopes students will take advantage of the free reading and the opportunity to interact with Lozada-Oliva.
“I think it’s important to hear someone else’s words and voice, whether it resonates with you or not,” said McDonald. “She’s different form the people that we’ve brought in the past. She’s younger. She is someone who is on social media.”
Faculty advisor Associate Professor Aaron Smith praised the Sigma Tau Delta students’ work in organizing the festival as well as the choice of speaker.
“Melissa is a dynamic voice, and I think she will provide our campus with a wonderful evening of poetry,” he says.
For her part, Lozada-Oliva wants her poetry to communicate inclusivity and self-acceptance.
“What I hope to communicate, both in writing and performing poems, is not to make people less like aliens but rather that it’s okay to be an alien,” she says.
Following her performance in Alumni Hall, Lozada-Oliva will stay to speak with the audience and sign her books, including her most recent poetry collection “Peluda.” See more details on the event page.