Winner of the 2020 Etel Adnan Poetry Prize, Jessica Abughattas's Strip is a captivating debut about desire and dispossession and that tireless poetic metaphor--the body. Audacious and clear-eyed, plainspoken and brassy, Abughattas's poems are songs that break free from confinement as they span the globe from Hollywood to Palestine.

Strip is a stunning debut. Any subject Jessica Abughattas writes about becomes a conundrum in the most beautiful of ways. Her poems are little apertures that open up, slant, and snap shut, all the while singing. How does her work both shatter and sing at once? A brilliant collection by a poet to watch.
--Victoria Chang, author of Obit

Somewhere between the sweetness of a blood orange and the crime scene it leaves behind on your fingers is Jessica Abughattas's Strip. From what I've gathered from her poems, Abughattas could walk into any dinner party or any influencer tent at Coachella and win the hearts of every single attendee. But it's Abughattas's poignant critique driven by heat, the eloquent shit-talking on the drive home, that gives Strip such momentum and audacity. These poems are my favorite flavor.
--Olivia Gatwood, author of Life of the Party

The poems in Strip are love songs that lay bare the violences and tendernesses of the body. With striking images, with direct and penetrating language, with a strong personal voice, with humor, Jessica Abughattas explores love, lust, loneliness, the lies we tell ourselves, our 'brief astonishment.' A wonderful collection you're going to want to read in one sitting, then read again.
--Zeina Hashem Beck, author of Louder than Hearts

Jessica Abughattas was born and raised in California. Her debut poetry collection, Strip (University of Arkansas Press), won the 2020 Etel Adnan Poetry Prize. Selected by Fady Joudah and Hayan Charara, “Strip is a captivating debut about desire and dispossession, and that tireless poetic metaphor, the body. Audacious and clear-eyed, plainspoken and brassy, these are songs that break free from confinement,” the series editors said. She is a Kundiman fellow and a graduate of the Antioch University Los Angeles MFA in Creative Writing program. Her poetry has won Best of the Net and appeared in Waxwing, The Adroit Journal, and Redivider, among other places.

Olivia Gatwood has received national recognition for her poetry, writing workshops, and work as a Title IX Compliant educator in sexual assault prevention and recovery. As a finalist at Brave New Voices, Women of the World and the National Poetry Slam, Olivia's performances have been featured on HBO, Huffington Post, MTV, VH1, and BBC among others. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Muzzle Magazine, The Winter Tangerine Review, Poetry City U.S.A., Tinderbox Poetry Journal, and The Missouri Review. Her Amazon Best Selling collection, New American Best Friend, reflects her experiences growing up in both New Mexico and Trinidad, navigating girlhood, puberty, relationships, and period underwear. Olivia is a full-time touring artist, and has performed internationally at over two-hundred schools and universities. Online, her videos, including Manic Pixie Dream Girl and Ode to My Bitch Face have gained over 3 million views collectively. She currently lives in Santa Cruz, CA.

Jeremy Radin is a poet, actor, and teacher. He's appeared on several television shows including It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, CSI, ER, and Zoey 101, in films such as The Way Back, starring Ben Affleck and directed by Gavin O'Connor, Terrence Malick's The New World and Wrestlemaniac, and in many plays. His poems have appeared in Gulf Coast, Grist, SideKick Lit, Cosmonauts Avenue, Nailed, Sundog Lit, Union Station, Winter Tangerine, and elsewhere. He teaches acting at The Beverly Hills Playhouse. He is the author of two collections of poetry, Slow Dance with Sasquatch (Write Bloody Publishing) and Dear Sal (not a cult press). He lives in Los Angeles with his four plants and refrigerator. Follow him @germyradin

Skylit: Strip by Jessica Abughattas, with Olivia Gatwood and Jeremy Radin