Savala

Nolan

Acclaimed Essayist

Memoirist, Professor

Travels from: Richmond, CA

“A standout collection…a brutal, beautifully rendered narrative.”— The New York Times Book Review

Savala Nolan is a celebrated essayist, popular speaker, and teacher. Her newest book, Good Woman: A Reckoning, was named a Most Anticipated Feminist Book of 2026 by Ms. Magazine. Her first book, Don’t Let It Get You Down: Essays on Race, Gender and the Body was shortlisted for the 2022 William Saroyan Prize.

She has spoken at MFA programs, book clubs, universities, and libraries across the country. Nolan’s writing has been featured in Vogue, Harper’s Magazine, the New York Times, TIME, Essence, NPR, Electric Literature, and more. She helped create the Peabody Award-winning podcast The Promise.

She directs the Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice at UC Berkeley School of Law. In 2025, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights awarded Nolan the Martin Luther King Jr. Living the Dream Award. In her spare time, she loves gardening, the beach, volunteering at public school libraries.

Savala's Featured Titles

Good Woman: A Reckoning

Mariner Books |

March 3, 2026

Essays/Memoir

A raw and lyrical exploration of the confining expectations of womanhood and, if we dare, what lies beyond those limitations—from a writer Roxane Gay calls “vibrant and thoughtful.”

Gorgeous, badass, and practically waiting to pounce, Good Woman: A Reckoning is acclaimed essayist Savala Nolan’s follow-up to her “standout collection” (New York Times Book Review) Don’t Let It Get You Down.

A lifetime of playing by the rules of female social conditioning is not what it’s cracked up to be for Nolan. The years of making herself smaller (literally and metaphorically); the sexual advances that led to more than she wanted; the bad marriage she fought like hell to keep; all the ways others questioned her identity or choices and she let it slide to keep the peace; her silence when requested; her body when desired—none of it worked. None of it protected her the way it was advertised to.

Nolan noticed the same was true for the women around her and the women in history she read about. Across time and location, they were raised to be agreeable and “good.” Hyper-visible as sexual objects but invisible as full people. Living in a physical world created by men for men. Taking on the ultimate role of birth-giver and caretaker, yet seeing it remain an unsung act, even as it’s a God-like endeavor. Only in midlife did Nolan begin to realize she was capable of living outside these cages of conditioning so slyly insidious that they’re nearly invisible.

Good Woman elegantly probes the knotty conditions themselves, the costs of adhering to them, and what happens when one refuses to comply. The twelve stunning and unforgettable essays blend memoir, reportage, and history to create a collection that is alternately bold, brash, and explosive … and ravishingly tender, sensual, and joyous. Nolan takes aim at big and old ideas, and she does not miss. Hers is a testimony to witness and to savor.

BIPOC Representation, Black Voices, Feminism, Memoir & Personal Journeys

Don’t Let It Get You Down: Essays on Race, Gender, and the Body

Simon & Schuster |

July 13, 2021

Nonfiction

A powerful and provocative collection of essays that offers poignant reflections on living between society’s most charged, politicized, and intractably polar spaces—between black and white, rich and poor, thin and fat.

Savala Nolan knows what it means to live in the in-between. Descended from a Black and Mexican father and a white mother, Nolan’s mixed-race identity is obvious, for better and worse. At her mother’s encouragement, she began her first diet at the age of three and has been both fat and painfully thin throughout her life. She has experienced both the discomfort of generational poverty and the ease of wealth and privilege.

It is these liminal spaces—of race, class, and body type—that the essays in Don’t Let It Get You Down excavate, presenting a clear and nuanced understanding of our society’s most intractable points of tension. The twelve essays that comprise this collection are rich with unforgettable anecdotes and are as humorous and as full of Nolan’s appetites as they are of anxieties. The result is lyrical and magnetic.

In “On Dating White Guys While Me,” Nolan realizes her early romantic pursuits of rich, preppy white guys weren’t about preference, but about self-erasure. In the titular essay “Don’t Let it Get You Down,” we traverse the cyclical richness and sorrow of being Black in America as Black children face police brutality, “large Black females” encounter unique stigma, and Black men carry the weight of other people’s fear. In “Bad Education,” we see how women learn to internalize rage and accept violence in order to participate in our culture. And in “To Wit and Also” we meet Filliss, Grace, and Peggy, the enslaved women owned by Nolan’s white ancestors, reckoning with the knowledge that America’s original sin lives intimately within our present stories. Over and over again, Nolan reminds us that our true identities are often most authentically lived not in the black and white, but in the grey of the in-between.

Perfect for fans of Heavy by Kiese Laymon and Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay, Don’t Let It Get You Down delivers an essential perspective on race, class, bodies, and gender in America today.

BIPOC Representation, Black Voices, Civil Discourse & Social Justice, Nonfiction

Good Women, Bad Lives

From the day they are born, women and girls are continuously urged to be agreeable, helpful, and “good.” But at what cost? Drawing extensively from the celebrated essays Good Woman, named a Most Anticipated Feminist Book of 2026 by Ms. Magazine, this book talk explores what women lose when they agree to a lifetime of being quiet, deferential, and pleasant. From sex to food, from money to marriage, from spirituality to motherhood, Nolan will illuminate the process of how women are socialized out of their power and appetites—and what is possible when they dare to reject this conditioning. Can be presented in a conversation/interview format or as a lecture.

Don’t Let It Get You Down: A Book Talk

Drawing extensively from the essays in her critically acclaimed first collection (called “unflinching and revelatory” by the San Francisco Chronicle, “deeply personal” by Publishers Weekly and “eloquently provocative” by Kirkus), this book talk can be tailored to emphasize any essay(s) or theme(s) in Don’t Let It Get You Down, including race, gender and the body. Perfect for fans of the book. Can be presented in a conversation/interview format or as a lecture.

What’s So Bad About Being Fat? Understanding Fatphobia in the Age of GLP-1s

Fatphobia (or anti-fat bias) is widespread and has deep roots in the United States—but it isn’t inevitable or innate. It’s learned, and it’s particular to specific times, places, and cultures. Why do some cultures regard fat bodies as positive or neutral while others regard fat bodies as problems to be avoided and solved? In this multimedia, interactive presentation, we’ll explore fatphobia from a multidisciplinary lens, covering core concepts of the fat liberation/body neutrality movements; GLP-1s, health, and beauty; and the United States’ documented history of using racial fears to control women’s bodies. We’ll consider the uses of fatphobia—what work it does in our communities socially, economically, and politically—and consider what it would be like to have a world free from this learned and harmful bias. Can be presented in a conversation/interview format or as a lecture.

Who Gets To Be White, and Why

Racism and expressions of racial hierarchy are on the rise, and some at the highest levels of power now openly espouse White Nationalist values. Are those of us at the opposite end of the political spectrum ready to counter narratives of racial hierarchy? Any effective response starts with understanding race, especially whiteness. In this interactive, exploratory session, we’ll consider the legal and personal components of “whiteness,” moving toward a shared articulation of what whiteness is, how it functions, and why it matters. Perfect for those who hold white privilege or those who are eager to explore the workings of American racial hierarchy.

The Craft of Writing

Writing the Body: How to Work with What Our Bodies Know
Even when they aren’t the center of the story, our bodies are an essential, inescapable part of any memoir—there is no life experience from which to write unless there is a body moving through the world, collecting memories, and translating them to the page. How do we draw from and contend with the body in order to craft memoir that is honest, fresh, and potent? What can our bodies tell us that our minds cannot? What if we don’t like our bodies, or live in a society that doesn’t like our bodies—how do we work with that? This talk will include concrete ways to approach these questions, examples of embodied writing from a diverse selection of celebrated authors, and a skills-building exercise to put the pieces together.

6 Tools for Your Most Excellent Writing
Based on her experience selling, writing, revising, and publishing two critically acclaimed books, Nolan shares how writers can work with six key tools to craft fresh, honest, and powerful work: motivation, appetite, audience, instinct, form, and roadblocks. A wonderful talk for writers and storytellers of all levels and genres.

Where’s the Justice? How to Love Law School as a Progressive Student

For Law Students:
A talk that has helped thousands of law students keep hold of their social justice values in the inherently conservative law school environment. Many people come to law school thinking their studies will focus on how to make the world a better place. It is a shock to discover that, in fact, American law is deeply rooted in—and still supporting—systems of racial dominance, capitalism, and hierarchy. Students who want to lawyer on behalf of the marginalized often find themselves alienated and depressed before the end of their first law school semester. It doesn’t have to be this way. In this multimedia, interactive presentation, we’ll identify and articulate the normative problems in legal education and co-create a set of tools for not only surviving but loving law school.

Politics and Prose | Author Spotlight: Savala Nolan

#GoodAncestor Savala Nolan – ‘Don’t Let It Get You Down’

Savala Nolan – HBS Channel – Harvard Book Store

The Indigo Press | Don’t Let It Get You Down: Essays on Race, Gender & the Body by Savala Nolan

“I could listen to Savala Nolan talk for hours. She is as compelling in person as she is on the page with the added bonus of answering your questions about race, class, and culture in real time. She pairs her lived experience with historical facts and current events to create a conversation that is both rich and rewarding. Through her thoughtful analysis of the oppressive structures that actively work toward the erasure of my story and of stories like mine, she makes me, a BIPOC woman, feel seen. At the same time, her commentary prompts me to reckon with my own areas of privilege.” — Janine Kovac, LitQuake

“A powerful and dynamic speaker, Savala is a joy. Her lectures on the art and craft of writing offer serious insights on how to write and the interconnections of lived-experience and the creative process. At the same time, she’s warm, lighthearted and entertaining. She was also wonderfully generous with our students’ questions. We loved having her visit our program.” — Judy Halebsky Ph.D., Dominican University of California

“Savala was the most delightful, wonderful speaker. Her warm, magnetic presence engaged our students and community audience. She spoke so thoughtfully, exploring deep, difficult topics with a tenderness that left us both challenged and inspired.” — Dr. Helen Hunt, Tennessee Tech University

“Through her masterful presentation and communication style, Savala exposes and critiques the insidious and often unnoticed manifestations of bias. Her style is equally powerful and approachable. I was deeply impacted by her presentation, our audience was extremely engaged, and we quickly invited Savala back for another talk.” — Leo Taylor, Ohio State University

“Savala is a luminary! With equal parts head and heart, she digs deeply into the trials and tribulations of family life, generational love, and social struggle. Her words are like sparks-they light up students’ minds. Indeed, in the end-of-semester survey, nearly every student mentioned Savala’s talk as being the most illuminating, memorable, and thought-provoking of the class.” — Seema Patel, Institute for Research on Labor and Employment & East Bay Community Law Center

“Savala Nolan is a book club speaker who you wish could be a member of your book club—smartest person in the room, warm and funny, and able to draw everyone into the conversation. Not many people can talk about race, gender, and bodies and help people feel comfortable enough to open up and spill their own stories. Savala is that exceptional person.” — Sarah, Book Club Member

“Savala’s intelligence, warmth, and experience illuminate and educated. She uses personal experiences to engage, rather than obscure, important issues, and her intimacy with her audience is magnetizing. Our whole group loved her grounded, wise, and humor-laced commentary and insights, especially around difficult issues like racism, sexism, and anti-fat bias. She made us allies instead of bystanders.” — Jody, Book Club Member

“A standout collection…a brutal, beautifully rendered narrative.” — The New York Times Book Review

“An eloquently provocative memoir in essays…This fierce and intelligent book is important not just for how it celebrates hard-won pride in one’s identity, but also for how Nolan articulates the complicated—and too often overlooked—nature of personal and cultural in-betweenness.” — Kirkus Reviews

“In 12 probing essays, Savala Nolan explores her intersectionality of race, gender and body awareness with an unflinching honesty that is both revelatory and unsettling. The essays are personal and confessional but informed by an awareness of larger historical narratives rooted in American culture.” — San Francisco Chronicle

“I like the voice and intelligence with which these essays come together…A vibrant and thoughtful collection.” — Roxane Gay

“A deeply personal debut collection…the mix of cultural criticism and thoughtful personal writing will be just right for fans of Roxane Gay.” — Publishers Weekly

“Not only is Don’t Let It Get You Down an important read, but it is also a delightful one that shows just how multitalented and impressive the author is when taking on subjects that resonate inside of her but also in the bodies and minds of her readers as well.” — Shondaland

Savala’s Website

Savala’s Substack

Savala’s Instagram

Honors, Awards & Recognition

Director, Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law
Advisor to Peabody-award-winning podcast “The Promise”
Shortlisted for William Saroyan Prize