(She/Her)

Olivia Simone (b. 1999) is a writer and artist from East London. Her work has appeared in butch-femme press, The Bedford square review, AZEEMA, Bricks Magazine, Lesbian Art Circle, The Wee Sparrow Poetry Press, Hermes Magazine, the Free Black University’s Radical Imagination Labs Journal, and Heroica. Olivia is also the founder and editor in chief of Breadfruit - a creative writing magazine that showcases the work of women and non-binary people who identify as part of the global majority.

Exploring questions of existence, selfhood, and reality, Olivia’s writing draws on elements of magical realism to open a doorway into lesser-explored dimensions of the human experience. Her stories blur the boundaries between the real and the surreal, inviting readers to consider what lies beneath the surface of everyday life. At the same time, her work is shaped by her experiences as a Caribbean British queer woman in London, weaving together themes of belonging, (un)groundedness, and identity. Through this interplay between the magical and the personal, Olivia creates narratives that are both intimate and expansive, speaking to the complexities of individual and collective experience.

Currently, Olivia is working on her debut novel and completing a funded PhD in Creative Writing at King’s College London, where she is exploring precolonial spiritualities in magical realist fiction by African-Caribbean diaspora women writers.

She is represented by Rachel Goldblatt at Curtis Brown Literary Agency.

Instagram: @oliviasimonee_

Website: www.oliviasimone.portfolio