Discipline/Field: Creative Nonfiction

Based in: Riverside, CA

About: UC Riverside MFA candidate, Amanda Oliver, has a keen interest in using research to identify and help solve social problems. Originally from Buffalo, New York, she worked as a librarian in the New York City Public Schools and in Washington, D.C. As a Redesign Resident she will be writing two research-heavy chapters about the history of the American public library for a book about how libraries and librarians play major roles in caring for society’s most vulnerable and underserved people.

Project Title: The Current State of the American Public Library is about the library as one of the only freely available social equalizers left in a modern society that has failed significant populations of people by valuing commodity over humanity, profit over compassion. It is due for publication in 2021.

Relevant links: amandaoliver.com, twitter.com/aelaineo and instagram.com/aelaineo