About Savala Nolan
photograph of Savala Nolan by Senay Inanici
Savala Nolan is an essayist, speaker, and teacher whose work explores race, gender, power, and the body. Her debut collection, Don’t Let It Get You Down: Essays on Race, Gender and the Body, was shortlisted for the 2022 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing and is taught and discussed widely across the country. Her second book, Good Woman: A Reckoning, was named a Ms. Magazine “Most Anticipated Feminist Book of 2026.”
Nolan’s writing has appeared in Vogue, Harper’s Magazine, The New York Times, NPR, TIME, Essence, Electric Literature, Forbes, and other publications. She also helped create The Promise, which received a Peabody Award.
Nolan is Executive Director of the Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice at UC Berkeley School of Law, where she earned her J.D. in 2011. In 2025, she received the MLK Living the Dream Award from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.
Savala Nolan works privately with a small number of writers on creative nonfiction projects.
For speaking inquiries, please contact Christie Hinrichs at Authors Unbound here. For book club inquiries, please use the contact form. Savala’s Substack is here. You can visit her on Instagram, too.
“I like the voice and intelligence with which these essays come together…A vibrant and thoughtful collection.”
“Savala Nolan is powerful and complex... Like Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me, Nolan’s essays speak to both young and old Americans about our country’s pervasive history of racism.”
“A searing, unsettling, beautiful set of investigations deep into [Savala Nolan’s] mind, body, and personal history....A riveting, difficult work written with rhythm and artistry. ”