Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz

A native of Philadelphia, the daughter of Bruce S. Aptowicz and Maureen (O'Keefe) Aptowicz, Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz graduated from Central High School of Philadelphia in 1996 and earned a B.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from New York University in 2000. Her brother, Kevin Aptowicz, is a professor of physics at West Chester University.[http://courses.wcupa.edu/kaptowicz/ West Chester University: Kevin Aptowicz page] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720141433/http://courses.wcupa.edu/kaptowicz/ |date=July 20, 2008 }} On June 18, 2016, she married novelist/screenwriter Ernest Cline, whom she met at the 1998 National Poetry Slam.{{cite news|title=VOWS: "Cristin Aptowicz, Ernest Cline"|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/19/fashion/weddings/cristin-aptowicz-ernest-cline.html|work=The New York Times|date=June 19, 2016}}

Aptowicz was introduced to the New York City Poetry Slam community by NYU classmate, Beau Sia.Aptowicz, Cristin O'Keefe. (2008). Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam. CHAPTER 19: "And Two Become Three; Mouth Almighty Becomes NYC-Urbana and Nuyo's Championship Team Becomes louderARTS" Page 177. Soft Skull Press. {{ISBN|1-933368-82-9}}. In November 1998, at age 19, she founded the NYC-Urbana Poetry Slam series.[http://spindlezine.com/index.php/notable-new-yorkers/cristin-o-keefe-aptowicz-slamming-history.html Spindle Magazine "Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz: Slamming History" by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120141422/http://spindlezine.com/index.php/notable-new-yorkers/cristin-o-keefe-aptowicz-slamming-history.html |date=November 20, 2008 }}

NYC-Urbana was the formal continuation of a poetry slam series started by Bob Holman and as of 2008, has earned three National Poetry Slam Championships: 1997 (as Team Mouth Almighty), 2000 and 2002.Aptowicz, Cristin O'Keefe. (2008). Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam. "New York Poetry Slam Teams from 1990 to 2007" Page 367-368. Soft Skull Press {{ISBN|1-933368-82-9}}. Aptowicz was a member of the 1998, 2001, 2003 and 2010 NYC-Urbana Poetry Slam teams. Well-known poets who have been on NYC-Urbana Poetry Slam teams including Taylor Mali, Beau Sia, Anis Mojgani and Sarah Kay, among others. Aptowicz was the 2010 Women of the World Poetry Slam (WOWps) representative for NYC-Urbana.{{cite web|url=http://wow.poetryslam.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=62&Itemid=85|title=PSI website: WOWps 2010 Participants List|access-date=September 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110809184511/http://wow.poetryslam.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=62&Itemid=85|archive-date=August 9, 2011|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}

Aptowicz is the author of eight books of poetry, including the recently released, Against Vanishing (Write Bloody Publishing, 2025).{{Cite web|url=https://writebloody.com/products/against-vanishing-by-cristin-okeefe-aptowicz?srsltid=AfmBOopMDPYK5Bcyeuy-GdoA-lqrM_jWzEnm_apyCab6XbBcaSaOL7Yh|title=Against Vanishing by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz : Writebloody Publishing|website=writebloody.com|language=en-US|access-date=2018-04-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180421094349/http://writebloody.com/shop/products/how-to-love-the-empty-air/|archive-date=April 21, 2018|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}} Her previous book, The Year of No Mistakes (Write Bloody Publishing, 2018){{cite book|author=Asian American Poetry |title=Amazon Listing for The Year of No Mistakes |year=2013 |publisher=Write Bloody |isbn=978-1938912344 }} won the Writers' League of Texas Book of the Year Award for Poetry 2013–2014.{{cite web |url=http://www.writersleague.org/146/2013-2014-Book-Award-Winners---Finalists |title=Writers' League of Texas Book of the Year Awards Finalists and Winners 2013–2014 |publisher=Writersleague.org |date= |access-date=2017-09-09 |archive-date=November 1, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141101233606/http://www.writersleague.org/146/2013-2014-Book-Award-Winners---Finalists |url-status=dead }} Aptowicz's other books of poetry are: Dear Future Boyfriend (2000), Hot Teen Slut (2001), Working Class Represent (2003) and Oh, Terrible Youth (2007) and Everything is Everything (2010), which are all available via Write Bloody Publishing.{{cite web|url=http://htmlgiant.com/i-like-__-a-lot/i-like-cristin-okeefe-aptowicz-a-lot-part-1/|title=I Like Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz A Lot: Part 1 – HTMLGIANT|website=htmlgiant.com|access-date=September 9, 2017}}

Aptowicz appeared in the concert film Taylor Mali & Friends Live at the Bowery Poetry Club and in the documentary; Slam Planet (2006).{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418171/|title=Slam Planet (2006)|website=IMDb |publisher=|access-date=September 9, 2017}} In 2003, she served the overseas mentor for Mouth Off!, a youth poetry show commissioned by the Sydney Opera House.{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/rn/deepend/stories/2003/972628.htm|title=Deep End – 22 October, 2003 – Mouth Off|website=www.abc.net.au|access-date=September 9, 2017}} She frequently tours with poets Buddy Wakefield, Derrick Brown and Anis Mojgani on their "poetry revival tours," joining them on their 2008 Junkyard Ghost Revival tour,{{cite web|url=http://www.myspace.com/junkyard|title=Junkyard – Listen and Stream Free Music, Albums, New Releases, Photos, Videos|website=Myspace|access-date=September 9, 2017}} 2009 Elephant Engine High Dive Revival tour{{cite web|url=http://www.myspace.com/2009elephant_revival_tour|title=Elephant Engine Revival (2009elephant_revival_tour) on Myspace|website=Myspace|access-date=September 9, 2017}} and 2010 Night Kite Revival tour.{{cite web|url=http://www.thepoetryrevival.com|title=ThePoetryRevival.com|website=www.thepoetryrevival.com|access-date=September 9, 2017}}

Aptowicz received a 2011 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Poetry.{{cite web |author=2011 Poetry |url=https://www.arts.gov/writers-corner/bio/cristin-okeefe-aptowicz |title=Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz | NEA |publisher=Arts.gov |date= |access-date=2017-09-09 |archive-date=September 9, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170909232921/https://www.arts.gov/writers-corner/bio/cristin-okeefe-aptowicz |url-status=dead }} She is one of only handful of "slam poets" who have won NEA grants. As of 2011, the other poets are Hal Sirowitz (who was on the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Poetry Slam team in 1993,Aptowicz, Cristin O'Keefe. (2008). Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam. New York City: Soft Skull Press. " Chapter 14: First and Always; Graduates from the NYC Poetry Slam's First Wave" Page 122. {{ISBN|1-933368-82-9}}. and won an NEA Fellowship in Poetry in 1994{{cite web|url=http://www.nea.gov/pub/nea_lit.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=November 19, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090612220201/http://www.nea.gov/pub/NEA_lit.pdf |archive-date=June 12, 2009 |df=mdy }} | National Endowment of the Arts List of Literature Fellows: 1967 – 2007); Jeffrey McDaniel (who was on numerous DC and California slam teams in the mid to late 1990s, and won a NEA Fellowship in Poetry in 2003); and Adrienne Su (who was on the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Poetry Slam team in 1991, and won a NEA Fellowship in Poetry in 2007{{cite web|url=https://www.arts.gov/writers-corner/bio/adrienne-su|title=Adrienne Su – NEA|website=www.arts.gov|access-date=September 9, 2017|archive-date=September 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170909233617/https://www.arts.gov/writers-corner/bio/adrienne-su|url-status=dead}}).

Aptowicz was awarded the 2013 Amy Clampitt Residency. The residency takes place in the former residence of poet Amy Clampitt and provides "an established or emerging poet or literary scholar with the rare gift of extended time and a reasonable stipend so that he or she may substantially further his or her creative work."{{cite web |url=http://www.amyclampitt.org/residency/pressrelease.html |title=The Amy Clampitt Fund |access-date=2012-02-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007122217/http://www.amyclampitt.org/residency/pressrelease.html |archive-date=October 7, 2011 |df=mdy-all }} Amy Clampitt Website: Original Press Press Announcing Residency Aptowicz is the first poet from a poetry slam background to be awarded this residency.{{cite web |url=http://www.amyclampitt.org/residency/index.html |title=The Amy Clampitt Fund |access-date=2009-05-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090518001003/http://www.amyclampitt.org/residency/index.html |archive-date=May 18, 2009 |df=mdy-all }} Amy Clampitt Website: List of Poets Who Have Been Awarded the Amy Clampitt Residency

Aptowicz has published non-fiction essays, articles and excerpts in The Atlantic, Smithsonian magazine, io9, Live Science, Bust magazine, About.com's Poetry Channel and the spoken word anthology Word Warriors.[http://www.aptowicz.com/nonfiction.htm Aptowicz website: Non-Fiction page] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724021544/http://www.aptowicz.com/nonfiction.htm |date=July 24, 2008 }}

In 2008, Soft Skull Press published Aptowicz's first book of nonfiction, Words In Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam.[http://www.softskull.com/detailedbook.php?isbn=1-933368-82-9 Soft Skull website: Words In Your Face page] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080422021039/http://softskull.com/detailedbook.php?isbn=1-933368-82-9 |date=April 22, 2008 }} U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins wrote that the book "leaves no doubt that the slam poetry scene has achieved legitimacy and taken its rightful place on the map of contemporary literature"[http://www.aptowicz.com/books/WiYF_backwblurbs_v4_flatpreview.jpg Words In Your Face back cover]{{dead link|date=August 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} and The Washington Post named it one of five Notable Books on Exploring Poetry in 2008.{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/17/AR2008041703538_3.html|title=Poetry Collections|date=April 20, 2008|publisher=|access-date=September 9, 2017|via=washingtonpost.com}} Aptowicz spent 4 years writing the book, which "explores the birth, growing pains and continuing development of the Poetry Slam." The book features interviews with Saul Williams, Maggie Estep, Bob Holman and Slamnation director Paul Devlin, among others.

Aptowicz wrote the non-fiction screenplay Mütter, based on the life of Mütter Museum founder Thomas Dent Mütter. It won the 2003 "Set In Philadelphia" Screenwriting Award at the Philadelphia Film Festival[http://www.film.org/greater_philadelphia_filmmakers/filmmaker_programs/set_in_philadelphia/ Greater Philadelphia Film Office: SIP Screenwriting Award] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080620153945/http://www.film.org/greater_philadelphia_filmmakers/filmmaker_programs/set_in_philadelphia/ |date=June 20, 2008 }} and a Sloan Foundation Fellowship at the 2004 Hampton International Film Festival.{{cite web|url=http://scienceandfilm.org/filmmakers/cristin-okeefe-aptowicz|title=Sloan Foundation|website=scienceandfilm.org|access-date=September 9, 2017}} In 2005, she was invited to attend the 2005 Sloan Film Summit in support of the screenplay, and wrote an article about her experiences at the Summit by New York City's Museum of the Moving Image.[http://www.scienceandfilm.org/articles/the-sloan-film-summit/ The Sloan Film Summit by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz. Museum of the Moving Image website.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828054403/http://www.scienceandfilm.org/articles/the-sloan-film-summit/ |date=August 28, 2008 }} As of 2008, the screenplay remained unproduced. A short based on the feature-length script was created as a part of the Philadelphia Film Festival prize package.[http://www.aptowicz.com/mutter/short.htm Mütter Short website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907145042/http://www.aptowicz.com/mutter/short.htm |date=September 7, 2008 }}

In 2010, Aptowicz was named the 2010–2011 University of Pennsylvania ArtsEdge Writer-in-Residence to work on a non-fiction book about the life of Mutter.{{cite web|url=http://writing.upenn.edu/wh/involved/awards/artsedge/|title=University of Pennsylvania ArtsEdge Residencies|website=writing.upenn.edu|access-date=September 9, 2017}} Aptowicz's biography of Mütter, Dr. Mütter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine was published in September 2014 by the Gotham Books division of Penguin.{{cite web|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/book-deals/article/56802-books-deals-week-of-april-15-2013.html|title=Books Deals: Week of April 15, 2013|publisher=|access-date=September 9, 2017}}[https://www.amazon.com/Dr-Mütters-Marvels-Intrigue-Innovation/dp/1592408702/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1395234036&sr=8-2&keywords=aptowicz Amazon Page for 'Dr. Mütter's Marvels ] The book received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly,{{cite web|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-592-40870-2|title=Nonfiction Book Review: Dr. Mütter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz. Gotham, $27.50 (384p) ISBN 978-1-592-40870-2|publisher=|access-date=September 9, 2017}} Library Journal,{{cite web|url=http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2014/09/books/nonfic/sci-tech/dr-mutters-marvels-barnosky-on-extinction-dealing-with-dementia-more-science-technology-reviews/|title=Dr. Mütter's Marvels, Barnosky on Extinction, Dealing with Dementia, & More – Science & Technology Reviews|publisher=|access-date=September 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170909234116/http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2014/09/books/nonfic/sci-tech/dr-mutters-marvels-barnosky-on-extinction-dealing-with-dementia-more-science-technology-reviews/|archive-date=September 9, 2017|url-status=dead}} School Library Journal{{cite web|url=http://blogs.slj.com/adult4teen/2014/11/10/dr-mutters-marvels/|title=Dr. Mütter's Marvels — @AngeReads and @droogmark Adult Books 4 Teens|website=blogs.slj.com|date=November 10, 2014 |access-date=September 9, 2017}} and Kirkus Reviews.{{cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/christine-okeefe-aptowicz/dr-mutters-marvels/|title=DR. MTTER'S MARVELS by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz – Kirkus Reviews|publisher=|access-date=September 9, 2017|archive-date=October 19, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019081319/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/christine-okeefe-aptowicz/dr-mutters-marvels/|url-status=dead}} The hardcover debuted at #7 on The New York Times Bestseller List for Books about Health, and remained on the list for three months.

In March 2023, it was announced the Aptowicz signed a publishing deal with Simon & Schuster for a new nonfiction called 'The Uprising.' The announcement describes the book as "a tale of surprising abolitionist collaboration between Philadelphia's wealthy free Black elite, rural white Quaker farmers, and the self-emancipated families who worked in both worlds, culminating in the Christiana Resistance, a bloody clash between enslavers and the formerly enslaved, and the ensuing 'trial of the century,' publicly challenging the Fugitive Slave Act and turning the nation's mood from compromise to war, revealing the power of ordinary people standing together against injustice."[https://twitter.com/coaptowicz/status/1630999504282439680?s=20 Aptowicz Twitter Post Announcing ''The Uprising' Book Deal]

• Against Vanishing (Write Bloody Publishing, 2025; {{ISBN|978-1949342703}})
• How to Love the Empty Air (Write Bloody Publishing, 2018; {{ISBN|978-1938912801}})
• Dr. Mütter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine (Gotham Books, 2014; {{ISBN|978-1592408702}})
• The Year of No Mistakes (Write Bloody Publishing, 2013; {{ISBN|978-1938912344}})
• Everything is Everything (Write Bloody Publishing, 2010; {{ISBN|0-9842515-1-0}})
• Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam (Soft Skull Press, 2008; {{ISBN|1-887012-17-6}})
• Oh Terrible Youth (2007) (Write Bloody Publishing, 2011; {{ISBN|1-935904-66-3}})
• Working Class Represent (2004) (Write Bloody Publishing, 2011; {{ISBN|1-935904-72-8}})
• Hot Teen Slut (2001) (Write Bloody Publishing, 2011; {{ISBN|1-935904-68-X}})
• Dear Future Boyfriend (2000) (Write Bloody Publishing, 2011; {{ISBN|1-935904-70-1}})

• 2022 Hall of Fame Inductee: Central High School of Philadelphia {{cite web|url=https://centralhighalumni.com/all-news/hall-of-fame-induction-ceremony-on-october-19-2022/ |title=CHS Hall of Fame 2022 |publisher=centralhighalumni.com |date= |access-date=2017-09-09}}
• Winner: Writers' League of Texas Book of the Year Award for Poetry 2013–2014 {{cite web |url=http://www.writersleague.org/146/2013-2014-Book-Award-Winners---Finalists |title=(For books published in 2013) |publisher=Writersleague.org |date= |access-date=2017-09-09 |archive-date=November 1, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141101233606/http://www.writersleague.org/146/2013-2014-Book-Award-Winners---Finalists |url-status=dead }}
• Winner: Writer-in-Residence: Amy Clampitt House (2013){{cite web |url=http://amyclampitt.org/residency/index.html |title=The Amy Clampitt Fund |access-date=2013-05-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130529225245/http://www.amyclampitt.org/residency/index.html |archive-date=May 29, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}
• NEA Fellowship: National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship for Poetry (2011)
• Winner: Writer-in-Residence University of Pennsylvania (2010–2011)
• Winner: Poet in Residence: Culver Academies in Culver, Indiana (2009)[https://student.culver.org/2010/~balcham/srvtleadpract/Text/EVENT/TimelineBackstage.xls Culver Academies Timeline 2009]{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
• Winner: Nadine B. Andreas Public Scholar in Speech Communication, Minnesota State University, Mankato (2008).{{cite web|url=https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:8ribLNkyMiYJ:www.mnsu.edu/cmst/assmnts/annual-reports/08-09-ForensicsRpt.pdf+MSU+aptowicz&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESj9WMI7lYKgboU9JepRYAIeUIcjl7bVmKxMn7dEIc3BgA-95ZZQ0z9fm4jh6DUZ0rc-_EO0UJOZXWPfdq0caN0gk0QnOvU1OVaUXdCW7jHA0ZU9SVu4If8X8otrNJM56dxSNMec&sig=AHIEtbR8FASJZk6DcxJ7WvFdO7um2fX3_w |title=MSU Forensic Program 2008–2009 Year End Report |date= |access-date=2017-09-09}}
• Winner: Hampton International Film Festival's Sloan Fellowship for Screenwriting (2004)
• Semi-Finalist: Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting for Mütter (2004)
• Winner: Grand Prize, Philadelphia Film Festival for Mütter (2003).
• Winner: Myers Foundation Grant (2001 and 2003)
• Two-Time Winner: National Poetry Slam: Slammaster's Slam (2000, 2001).
• Three-time Winner: NYU/Barnes and Noble Monologue Contest (1999–2000)

• Performance poetry
• Poetry slam
• Spoken word
• Bowery Poetry Club

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|http://www.aptowicz.com}}
• [http://htmlgiant.com/i-like-__-a-lot/i-like-cristin-okeefe-aptowicz-a-lot-part-1/ Five-Part Interview with Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz by Roxane Gay, published in HTML Giant]
• Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz's poem "Your Wife" in [http://www.gulfcoastmag.org/index.php?n=2&si=49&s=3&o=3 Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts (25.1)].
• [http://www.indiefeedpp.libsyn.com/?search_string=aptowicz.com&Submit=Search&search=1 Audio of "Lit," "To Whom It May Concern," "All I'd Leave Behind," "On Reading Unrequited Love Poems," and "Mother" (among others) on Indiefeed Performance Poetry Channel; Includes nine-part podcast series on Words In Your Face]

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Category:1978 births

Category:Central High School (Philadelphia) alumni

Category:Living people

Category:Slam poets

Category:American women poets

Category:American spoken word poets

Category:Novelists from Philadelphia

Category:Poets from Philadelphia

Category:Tisch School of the Arts alumni

Category:National Endowment for the Arts Fellows

Category:Writers from New York City