Headlands Center for the Arts

Artist Statement

I am a nonfiction writer, editor, and former librarian. My first book, Overdue: Reckoning with the Public Library (Chicago Review Press, 2022), is part memoir and part deep dive into the current state of America’s public libraries. I have written and spoken extensively around the topic of libraries, most specifically about the many roles they play in serving vulnerable and underserved people. I am currently returning to my more stylistic and experimental roots of lyrical longform prose. I am interested in stretching the boundaries of the nonfiction genre wherever possible and rely on information and artifact gathering, ambient music, movement, nature, and meditation in my creative process.

While at Headlands

While at Headlands I will be working on a book-length collection of prose centered on the idea of Home, with a capital H, and how this shifts and fragments over the course of a lifetime. I am a former librarian who relies on information and artifact gathering to build connections within my work. I am looking forward to temporarily displacing myself to Northern California for new inspiration.

Artist photo by Sheva Kafai.

Selected Work:

Amanda Oliver, “The Featherweight,” 2022

Amanda Oliver, “Pine Street,” 2021.

Amanda Oliver, “Honey,” 2020.

Amanda Oliver, “Fourteen Women Playing One Guitar” 2019