Amanda Montell

Welcome to Amanda University* where you will earn your Ph.D. in owning your voice.

-Amanda Montell

On the road to publishing Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language, Amanda Montell welcomed her Instagram audience to her IGTV classroom, sharing her research and language expertise as it applies to condescension toward womxn. However, the class (on hiatus until 2021) is not a pity-party experience but a refreshing, optimistic, AHA intake of fascinating and useful information. When the class bell rings, Amanda begins the brief lesson – pointer in hand and whiteboard at her side. She is upbeat and savvy with her technology, attracting as many as 29,000 students (views) to her most popular session. That’s quite a class!

Amanda Montell also produces The Down Fall: An Autumnal Interview Series on her IGTV account. Actors Molly Ringwald and Erin Sanders, and author Leigh Stein have been Amanda’s recent guests.

The Book

Wordslut hit the literary world with a bang! It has earned praise from the New York Times, TIME, BUST, Harper\’s Bazaar, Kirkus Reviews, Publisher\’s Weekly, and others. Amanda Montell’s press page lists several complimentary blurbs, which, in effect, encourages readers to delve into this eyeopening feminist view of the English language. She puts a spin on the topic and says it’s often okay for womxn to speak in typically criticized terms. Amanda backs it up with her study of word origins, the intimidating effects of the patriarchy, and numerous examples from real-life people and situations. Readers of Wordslut are intrigued by Amanda’s informative and entertaining delivery and often write reviews that sum up with, “It’s a must-read” and other enthusiastic recommendations.

Writer. Author. Linguist.

An accomplished millennial, Amanda Montell’s writing has been published in the dot coms of Cosmopolitan, TIME, MarieClaire, WhoWhatWear, and other prominent publications. Her New York University BA in linguistics has paid off.

Amanda, who was born in Baltimore, now lives in Los Angeles. In her spare time, she enjoys learning impractical languages and loving her fur babies. Her volunteer time is spent as a crisis counselor for LGBTQ youth and as a supporter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  Amanda has raised over $130,000 for LLS during the past two years for cancer research and patient support.

The Next Book

Much anticipated is Amanda Montell’s second book, CULTISH: The Language of Fanaticism, scheduled for release in the summer of 2021 and  available for pre-order. As Amanda does media appearances, she talks about her research for this book. It is clear that she is not a fan of multi-level marketing and the girlboss trend. Amanda’s video and audio appearances are posted on her Instagram account and her website\’s press page.

Amanda, Your words are our present and our future. I’m glad you’re putting them out there to be seen and heard.

I love the beautiful, delicate art on this postcard by Nothing Wild Tattoo. Thank you for sending it for my collection!

A challenge for you: Display a closeup of one of your tattoos on Instagram and the story behind it. 🙂

~Anita~

*not a real university