molly rivkin
i discovered spoken word poetry a decade ago. it was mesmerizing, honest, emotional and captivating. everything i admire. i became obsessed and have spent the last ten years discovering and developing my voice through written and spoken word. this literary journey has taken me to Ukraine, London, Ireland, France and the United States. i found memoir, street art, basement pubs, meditation, academia, yoga and so many talented writers and performers along the way. here i share my work, my heart and my continued writing journey.
Zoo Town Surfers Write-Up
in 2016 i trained as a whitewater raft guide. it has been one of the most exciting, joyful and empowering career decisions i have ever made. i wrote this essay after my first summer guiding.
read here My First Year Guiding
photos by Montana River Photography
published essays and poems
Letters From Ukraine, Apples on The Other Side of The World, WorldView Magazine, Pages 38-39
Fall, 2015
this essay is a look into my village life as a Peace Corps Volunteer. an excursion to an orchard with students and teachers to harvest apples. it is an excerpt from my memoir, Tea Without Vodka is a Son of a Bitch and was originally published in the WorldView Magazine, a Peace Corps Publication.
Just Met: An Anthology of Poems and Short Stories, Lessons That Feel Nothing Like Wisdom and Everything Like Drowning, Page 19-22
and the Lunar Poetry Podcast
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a passionate and driven poem, this was my first successful spoken word piece. i performed it regularly in London during my graduate studies. it was published in print, but without voice there is something missing.
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enjoy a spoken word rendition along with two other poems, and some poetic rambling on the Lunar Poetry Podcast.
Lizzy Turner conducted the interview. episode 33.
awards
Just Met Prize for Poetry
2015
i was awarded a prize for the poem, Lessons That Feel Nothing Like Wisdom and Everything Like Drowning. Judge, Naomi Foyle, wrote, "Lessons...offers tender observations on the speaker's precarious mental health, most effectively in its use of paradox, metaphor, and quiet music."
manuscripts
memoir and poetry
Tea Without Vodka is a Son of a Bitch
Tea Without Vodka is an account of my life working as a physical education teacher and U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in a village school. i learn the finer points of dating in the village context, wrestle with loneliness and build relationships with my neighbors and students. the memoir ends when i am evacuated from Ukraine during the 2014 Euromaidan Revolution. the first draft of the memoir is complete and is now undergoing editing, revising and polishing. it is 145 pages and 62,604 words.
understanding. without fear. or a compass.
this is a completed poetry manuscript divided into five topics: the heart, womanhood, the ugly part, mending and rebuilding, and joy, freedom and spontaneous intelligence. the manuscript is 22 pages and 2,518 words.
in a moment you are everything. the whole universe expanding. and then you are small and simple in your body again.
academic credentials
Master of Arts in Creative Writing
London Metropolitan University, London, England (2015)
Coursework: Foundations in creative writing and performance, innovation in publishing, and reading and writing the narrative.
Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies, Certificate in Spanish
University of Montana, Missoula, MT (2009)
Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina (Spring 2009)
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