Wolverton, Terry

Terry Wolverton (born 1954) is an American novelist, memoirist, poet, and editor. Her book Insurgent Muse: Life and Art at the Woman's Building, a memoir published in 2002 by City Lights Books, was named one of the "Best Books of 2002" by the Los Angeles Times, and was the winner of the 2003 Publishing Triangle Judy Grahn Award, and a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. Her novel-in-poems Embers was a finalist for the PEN USA Litfest Poetry Award and the Lambda Book Award.

Wolverton attended the University of Detroit as a student in its BFA Theatre Program. In 1973, she transferred to the University of Toronto, majoring in Theatre, Psychology, and Women's Studies. Wolverton moved to Los Angeles in 1976, enrolling in the Feminist Studio Workshop at the Woman's Building. She spent the next thirteen years at the Woman's Building where, in addition to writing and performing, she was also instrumental in the Lesbian Art Project, the Incest Awareness Project, the Great American Lesbian Art Show (GALAS), a long-term performance project called "An Oral Herstory of Lesbianism", and a White Women's Anti-Racism Consciousness-Raising Group. From 1987-88, she served as the nonprofit organization's Executive Director.

Wolverton has taught performance skills and creative writing since 1977. In 1986, she developed the Visions and Revisions Writing Program at Connexxus Women's Center/Centro de Mujeres. In 1988, she launched the Perspectives Writing Program at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, where she taught until 1997. In 1997, Wolverton founded Writers at Work, a creative writing center where she continues to teach fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry, and to provide creative consultations to writers.