Savannah Brown (born 21 July 1996) is an American-British poet and author.

Early life

Brown was born in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. She credits the poems of

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...

and her eleventh grade English teacher for cultivating her interest in poetry. She graduated from

Wadsworth High School Wadsworth High School is a public high school for grades 9 through 12 in Wadsworth, Ohio, United States. It is the only high school in the Wadsworth City School District. ...

in 2014 then shortly after moved to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Career

Brown gained prominence after videos of her performing original poems, one exploring the topic of self-love and another about female sexuality, went viral. At age 19, Brown

self-published Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (pri ...

a collection of poetry titled ''Graffiti (and other poems)'' which was a finalist in the

Goodreads Choice Awards The Goodreads Choice Awards is a yearly award program, first launched on Goodreads in 2009. Winners are determined by crowdvoting, users voting on books that Goodreads has nominated or books of their choosing, released in the given year. Most boo ...

. In 2020 she released a second poetry collection called ''Sweetdark.'' Writing about ''Sweetdark'' for i-D, Jenna Mahale notes the collection "explores how we live vulnerably, pleasurably, and chaotically at the end of the world". In

Redbrick A red brick university (or redbrick university) was originally one of the nine civic universities founded in the major industrial cities of England in the 19th century. However, with the 1960s proliferation of plate glass universities and t ...

, Sam Wait states "Brown has succeeded in writing a collection that, though deeply personal, is universally relatable". Of her poetry, Brown has said "I’m interested in ..acknowledging that so many small and human things are happening while out of frame there’s, like, a star collapsing". In

Our Culture Mag ''Our Culture Mag'' (stylised ourculture) is a British arts and culture online magazine launched in 2016 by Modestas Mankus , based in Cambridge, England. It covers film, fashion, music, art, photography and literature. History In 2016, Modes ...

azine, Konstantinos Pappis describes Brown's work as having "a mix of wry self-awareness and earnest sincerity". It was announced in 2018 that Brown had signed a two-book deal with

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, from the merger of Penguin Group and Random House. On April 2, 2020, Bertels ...

. The first book was published in 2019, a

young adult A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...

thriller called ''The Truth About Keeping Secrets'' about a teenager dealing with intense grief after the sudden death of her father. Brown has said the story was inspired by her own fear of death. The book was generally well-received, a review from

Kirkus ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

citing it as a "captivatingly moody, introspective drama". Writing for

Booklist ''Booklist'' is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. ''Booklist''s primary audience consists of libraries, educators, and booksellers. The magazine is av ...

, Rob Bittner says Brown's debut "will satisfy fans of mystery who yearn for a proverbial path of breadcrumbs leading to a hopeful, satisfying conclusion". Her second novel ''The Things We Don't See'' was released in 2021. Brown's novels are recognized for their

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

protagonists. In 2019, Brown started a 30-day poetry challenge called Escapril in which participants are tasked to write an original poem every day of April, which she still runs annually. More than 90,000 poems have been written for the event since. Brown has also acted as a judge for the

National Poetry Day National Poetry Day is a British campaign to promote poetry, including public performances. National Poetry Day was founded in 1994 by William Sieghart. It takes place annually in the UK on the first Thursday in October. Since its inception, it ha ...

competition run in collaboration with

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three s ...

and

The Poetry Society The Poetry Society is a membership organisation, open to all, whose stated aim is "to promote the study, use and enjoyment of poetry". The society was founded in London in February 1909 as the Poetry Recital Society, becoming the Poetry Society ...

. Brown started streaming on Twitch in early 2023.

Personal life

Brown is

autistic The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

and identifies as

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

. In April 2023, she became a British citizen.

Bibliography

Collections

* ''Graffiti (and other poems)'' (2016) * ''Sweetdark'' (2020) * ''Closer Baby Closer'' (2023)

Novels

* ''The Truth About Keeping Secrets'' (

, 2019) * ''The Things We Don't See'' (

, 2021)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Savannah American LGBT poets Writers with autism American writers with disabilities Bisexual women writers Bisexual poets Writers from Cleveland 1996 births Living people 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American poets Poets from Ohio American women poets American emigrants to England American bisexual writers American bisexual women American Twitch (service) streamers LGBT YouTubers YouTubers from Cleveland Autistic LGBT people