Poetry Book Club: "You Better Be Lightning" by Andrea Gibson

This monthly book club, led by Doug Knowlton, is for those who like to read and discuss poetry. It celebrates the integral role of poets and poetry in life and literature. February's selection is You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson - an electrifying collection that celebrates tenderness, queerness, and resilience in the face of illness and change. With humor, urgency, and openhearted grace, Gibson reminds us that poetry can be both balm and battle cry. Winner of the 2022 Independent Publisher Book Award, this is a book to read aloud, pass around, and keep close.

We meet in person in the loft of our store in The Mark building at 117 South Pineapple Avenue. The cost is your purchase of the book ($18), which can be picked up at Bookstore1 any time before our meeting.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson is a queer, political, and feminist collection guided by self-reflection.

The poems range from close examination of the deeply personal to the vastness of the world, exploring the expansiveness of the human experience from love to illness, from space to climate change, and so much more in between.

One of the most celebrated poets and performers of the last two decades, Andrea Gibson’s trademark honesty and vulnerability are on full display in You Better Be Lightning, welcoming and inviting readers to be just as they are.

2021 Goodreads Choice Awards – Finalist (Best Poetry Book)2021 Bookshop’s Indie Press Highlights2022 Independent Publisher Book Awards – Gold Medal Winner (Poetry)

2022 American Library Association Over The Rainbow – Shortlist
2023 Feathered Quill Book Awards – Poetry – Winner

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

ANDREA GIBSON (they/them/theirs) is a queer author of five full-length collections of poetry, including (Button Poetry 2018), which sold over 20,000 copies worldwide. Winner of The Independent Publishers Award in 2019, Andrea is also a three-time Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist and was recently named Poet Laureate of Colorado. In 2017, Penguin Books published Take Me With You, an illustrated collection of Gibson’s most beloved quotes, and in 2019, Chronicle Books published their first non-fiction endeavor, How Poetry Can Change Your Heart. The winner of the first Women’s World Poetry Slam, Gibson has gone on to be featured on BBC, Air America, CSpan, and regularly sells out large capacity venues all over the world. Gibson has also released seven full-length albums of spoken word. Their most recent book, You Better Be Lightning, is now available.

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