Description
Poetry. Latinx Studies. Women's Studies. LGBTQIA Studies. Film. Music. BIG FEELINGS is a grand tour of love and loss, femininity, and the nuances inherent in the simple messiness of being alive. Bella masterfully works within the ambiguity of feelings that do not ever truly end, of what it feels like to be a ghost within those feelings, and she guides the reader through the origin point of every haunting. She navigates the tragedies of heartbreak, the experience of brown girlhood, the loneliness ingrained within artists, and the courage it takes to get back up again even when it feels like you have already died many times before. With compassion and much needed humor, BIG FEELINGS allows us the necessary space to be alone with one another.
"At once a time capsule of love and loss, and a hymnal book of protest songs against the current political regime, the reader becomes a lucky passenger in bella's car, driving the scenic route through her brilliant and expansive mind. The book reads as a memoir in verse. The poems travel both physical and emotional landscapes, journeying through vibrant New Mexico and through the often lonely road of living as someone with 'big feelings.' We get to meet bodega cats, Ariana Grande, her family and her loves, but most importantly we get to meet gigi; wholly human and wholly herself. This book is as tender as it is fierce, and will be opened like a gift by the hearts of so many."—Andrea Gibson
Author Bio
GiGi Bella is an award-winning performance poet, artist and social justice advocate. She was ranked 10th in the world at the 2017 Women of the World Poetry Slam. She is a two- time Bronx poetry champion with Project X, a member of the first Project X Bronx Slam team to represent at the 2018 National Poetry Slam, the 2017 Vox Pop Champion and a 2017 Fem Slam Finalist. She was featured on the cover of New Mexico's favorite free magazine, the Weekly Alibi. She is currently working as the resident Poetry Teaching Artist at the renowned 92nd Street Y and a teaching artist at spoken word hub, Urban Word, in New York City. She recently made her directorial debut with Lin Manuel Miranda's In the Heights and the first all POC cast in the history of Albuquerque community theater. She was named the 2017 Albuquerque Women's Slam Poetry Champion. She is a two-time member of the Albuquerque Poetry Slam Team (2013, 2016) and was named a National Semi-Finalist and a Group Piece Champion at the National Poetry Slam in 2013 and 2016, respectively. She spoke on the NM Senate Floor for the 2017 Anti-Racism Day advocating for its first ever Anti- Racism bill, and was a featured speaker at the 2017 Santa Fe Women's March. Her book, 22, is available through Swimming With Elephants Publications.
Author City: ALBUQUERQUE, NM USA