Rant, Chant, Chisme

Rant. Chant. Chisme. is the debut collection of poetry by south Texas native Amalia Ortiz, featuring writing from the first decade of her career. Readers will get a taste of life on the border from the perspective of a young woman of color struggling to write herself into existence. These poems introduce a unique new transcultural feminist viewpoint as the poems call for social and political change along the borderlands. Ortiz, an award-winning performance poet known for her dynamic delivery style, relinquishes control of her writing to the reader, but not without first imparting the theatrical stage directions stated in the book’s title, which commands readers to recite these poems aloud in a spoken word celebration exploring culture, music, and place while encouraging the reader to embrace diversity and find their own storytelling voice.

Amalia Ortiz is an award-winning performance poet, an actress, and an activist. She was featured on three seasons ofRussell Simmons Presents Def Poetry on HBO, and on the NAACP Image Awards program on Fox. She is the creator of the one woman stage showOtra Esa on the Public Transit and stars in the award-winning independent filmSpeeder Kills. She is the first Latina poet to ever reach the final round at the National Poetry Slam, where her team took the second place prize. She lives in Harlingen, Texas.