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OLAIYA OLAYEMI (Writer, Performer) is a blk/trans/femme/womxxxn/anti-disciplinary artist/educator/and organizer who centers womxn of the african diaspora in her performative/literary/cinematic/and sonic works of art that explore love/sex/relationships/family/history/memory and radical joy/pleasure. her work is informed by blk/queer/feminist theories/aesthetics/and politics and african indigenous and diasporic spiritual traditions. she has performed at Brooklyn Arts Exchange, JACK, AAA3A, metaDEN, The Wild Project, The Langston Hughes House, Starr Bar, Mayday Space, and Dixon Place. she holds a bachelor of arts in english/creative writing (with a minor in african/black diaspora studies) from depaul university and a master of fine arts in creative writing from emerson college where she was a recipient of the Dean’s Fellowship. she is a 2019-2020 Performance Fellow in Queer Art’s mentorship program, a Fall 2020 Brooklyn Arts Exchange Space Grantee, a finalist in Fresh Fruit’s Film/Monologue Festival, a 2020-2021 American Woman Fellow in Dramatic Question Theatre’s American Woman Lab, and a 2020-2021 participant in Gibney Dance’s Black Diaspora group. her experimental screenplay was recently advanced to second round consideration for the Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab. she currently lives in philadelphia.