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| photo: Riley Cowing | |
Andrea Gibson is a poet, author and spoken-word artist whose poems center on LGBTQ issues, gender, feminism and mental health, as well as gun reform and the dismantling of oppressive social systems. Their sixth collection of poetry is You Better Be Lightning, just published by Button Poetry.
On your nightstand now:
We the Animals by Justin Torres. My partner is a poet working on a memoir and she recommended this to me. While she was reading it, she kept saying it was full of "perfect sentences" and described it as poetry in novel form. I'm excited to dive in. I've heard only beautiful things.
Favorite book when you were a child:
Charlotte's Web by E.B White. This book was the first piece of art I recall both wrecking me and putting me back together. It welcomed every single feeling, which wasn't something I was encountering from other books at the time. I still get weepy thinking about sweet Wilbur and Charlotte.
Your top five authors:
Toni Morrison, Jonathan Safran Foer, Cheryl Strayed, John Steinbeck, Octavia Butler.
Book you've faked reading:
The Bible. I grew up in the Baptist church and was told it was a holy endeavor to take on the task of reading the entire Bible, but as soon as I dove in there was just too much war for me to keep reading. That said, though I'm not a Christian, there's a lot of passages I still find tons of light and inspiration in.
Book you're an evangelist for:
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert. I know this is an unlikely book to be an evangelist for, but I can't stop singing its praises as it was promoted as a bit of a "beach read," and I found it to be a masterful dive into the depths of our collective humanity. I've walked through the world differently since reading it, accessing more compassion for myself and for everyone I encounter.
Book you've bought for the cover:
I honestly don't recall buying a book for its cover, though I'm sure I must have at some point. What I do remember is buying lots of books for their titles. In my teens and 20s, I was a magnet pulled to the saddest book titles in the world. These days I tend to be more of a sucker for joy.
Book you hid from your parents:
There's one book I remember hiding from not just my parents but from everyone in the world: Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg. I'd hide it in the book jackets of other books even while sitting in the queerest of coffee shops. I was still so afraid of who I was. It feels wonderful to now be at a place in my life where I wouldn't just read the book in public--I'd have to share my favorite lines with every stranger willing to listen.
Book that changed your life:
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. I read this book in high school, and it was the first novel that woke me up to how much I didn't know about our world. After reading it, I suddenly had so many questions, and each of those questions became a door to uncovering my own ever-evolving purpose in this world.
Favorite line from a book:
"I wish I'd a knowed more people. I would of loved 'em all. If I'd a knowed more, I would a loved more." --Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Five books you'll never part with:
Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison
Stone Butch Blues, Leslie Feinberg
Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
Dream Work, Mary Oliver
Each of these books significantly changed how I see the world. Each softened me in a way that was vital to my becoming as both an artist and human.
If you could read any book for the first time again:
I'm inclined to say A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara even though on another day I might say it's a book I'd never want to read again. The novel absolutely devastated me. Its plot, however, had me turning the pages faster than I ever had in my life.