Nancy Slavin (she/her) is a second/third generation North American of German, Finnish, and Russian-Jewish immigrant ancestors. She grew up in the North Chicago suburbs with a lot of love and advantages for which she’s always grateful, then came West and settled for a long time in Tillamook County on the rural Oregon coast.
For almost 20 years, Nancy worked as both a violence-prevention and anti-oppression educator and community college English literature and writing instructor. Helping people craft and tell their own stories in their own voices is her favorite part of working. She’s also worked as a writer-in-residence and teacher trainer for Community of Writers, a literary tutor, and a nonprofit development professional.
Nancy’s poetry and prose can be found in Community-Centric Fundraising, Vortex Magazine, Dame Magazine, Brevity Blog, The Manifest Station, Barrelhouse, and Literary Mama, and Hip Mama, among others. Nancy is a professional editor and writer who holds an M.A. in English from Portland State University and is graduate of Northwestern University’s B.A. honors poetry program.
In 2015, with her spouse and child until, Nancy moved over the hill to another suburb south of Portland. She lives now on land where the Clackamas, Atfalati, Kalapuya, Mollala, and Ahantchuyuk once fished, traded, and thrived. Her work is informed by motherhood, climate adaptation, racialized capitalism, somatic abolitionism, and transformative collective liberation. She is the founder of her county’s chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice and is active in anti-racism organizing, education, and direct democracy.