Activist, slam poet, and the first winner of the Women’s Poetry Slam, Andrea Gibson, is coming to the Hawthorne Theater on March 8 in Southeast Portland.

Gibson was born in Calais, Maine, and has been writing poetry since they were very young. Gibson became more serious in college, but didn’t really get absorbed in the poetic arts until they discovered spoken word after college in Denver.

Gibson’s early influences include Mary Oliver, but the first spoken word artists that inspired them were Saul Williams and Patricia Smith.

“They blew open everything I believed about what words could do out loud,” Gibson said.

Now with five full albums and two books to their credit, Gibson is inspired by people who are willing to take risks.

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Links:

PSU Vanguard | Portland State University