Girl - Anastasia DiFonzo Book Launch

Join the author and special guests for a reading and celebration of Girl. a new poetry collection from Anastasia DiFonzo and Gnashing Teeth Publishing.

Girl. by Anastasia DiFonzo is a study in coming of age within the constraints and freedoms of femininity. DiFonzo walks readers through her own experience of girlhood, both directly and from the perspective of historical female figures. In personifying abstract concepts such as “shame,” DiFonzo reveals her personal experience. However, Girl. does not only approach femininity from the context of the author’s own story; rather, it invites that of her mother and late grandmother, coaxing out the result of generational and familial wounds on an individual under the oppressive force of feminine ideals. Beginning with the impact of her grandmother’s expectations on the author’s own sense of self and ending with the newfound bud of sexuality between girls, Girl. encapsulates what it means to be socialized female in a world that makes being a girl — and even a woman — a vulnerable and yet deeply soft and tender state. But no book is complete without having been able to hold multiple conflicting truths at once. At the very same time as the vulnerability, softness, and tenderness come through in Girl., so does a profound strength, and at times, even anger. How could we expect anything less? To be born a girl is to be born into a life of violence, be it physical, emotional, or both. We are told to hate ourselves, and at some point, it is only natural that such hatred be focused outward. In the end, though, the author creates her own peace as a woman and girl.

“Girl.” by Anastasia DiFonzo is an incisive meditation on femininity, beauty, and the violence that both beget. Each poem arrives as its own sort of mirror –– a mirror that the author either confronts, shrouds, smashes, or, most intensely––places the reader in front of, demanding they peer deeply, and discover the hidden parts of themselves in the cracked glass.

- Megan Falley, author of Drive Here and Devastate Me

In her second poetry chapbook, Anastasia DiFonzo deftly unravels and reforms our understandings of desire, shame, generational wounds, and bodily identity. Much like the actual lived experience of girlhood for so many, Girl. is both jagged and soft, aggrieved yet full of longing.

Anastasia DiFonzo (she/her) is an Oakland-based poet and author from San Diego. She is a three-time Best of the Net nominee, and her debut chapbook, A Certain Serenity, was published by Puna Press in 2022. Her work can be found in journals such as New Contrast, Kalopsia Lit, Serotonin Poetry, and elsewhere. When she's not writing, she can be found having coffee with her cats. Find more about her forthcoming books and how to get in touch at her website, www.anastasiadifonzo.com.

Natalie Kaye Gunn is a queer and disabled artist recently published in Ink & Marrow and Lavender Review. She was raised in a giant family in the Pacific Northwest and nature and art have been her constant companions. Nat’s writing style draws on her experience as a musician and theater artist and she loves to perform for live audiences. She lives in northern California with her partner and chihuahua. @NatalieKayeGunn

Joshua Peralta is a teacher and writer based in Oakland, California. He is the author of the novella 3rd & Orange (2022). His next book will be the illustrated collection Gross Americana, due winter 2024. Currently he's at work on a new biographical portrait of the young John Fante. For more info visit Joshuaperalta.net.

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