Mi'ja is a new voice for old wounds, a time machine we are all invited to enter to reclaim the genius of our youth, an opportunity to revisit the loneliness and wonder of things we could see and understand only as children. At once heartbreaking and hilarious, Mi'ja chronicles the first nineteen years of the life of poet laureate, acclaimed playwright, and educator Magdalena Gmez-a life not meant for a child, nor is this book. It is fairytales and bestiaries in ceiling cracks; mythologies on the fire escape; realities of how the smallest acts of kindness can conquer despair. This book will reward you with revelations and celebrations of your own life; it may help you remember or perhaps even discover your truest, most honest self.

"A fiercely honest, wickedly humorous, and immensely insightful look at the heart of a poet. Mi'ja takes the reader on a transformational journey. We witness how scars become jewels, how compassion and wit are the best revenge, and how a river of passionate words and stories can soothe the worst injustices. Gmez dances with her ancestors, despite the stale cookies and slaps of childhood. What a harvest! Mi'ja will make you take a deep healing breath."

-Beverly Naidus, author of Arts for Change: Teaching Outside the Frame, One Size Does Not Fit All, and creator of the Pandemic Healing Deities series. Professor Emeritus, University of Washington, Tacoma

"Mi'ja belongs on your bookshelf between I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and The House on Mango Street. Pure passion, pure life, pure New York City. We thrill watching the narrator survive, thrive and tell her tale. Brilliant!"

-Lisa Aronson-Fontes, PhD; psychologist, professor, Fulbright Scholar, global speaker,

author of Invisible Chains: Overcoming Coercive Control in Your Intimate Relationship and Child Abuse and Culture: Working with Diverse Families.

"Magdalena Gmez's searing honesty excavates what is dishonest within us. What she allows us to witness here is catharsis-hers, and ours-we will not carry the weight of abuse and oppression on our chests any longer. We will sing, and our liberation will terrify tyrants."

-Diana Alvarez, PhD (a.k.a. Doctora Xingona) award-winning poet, songwriter, and opera composer, Quiero Volver: A Xicanx Ritual Opera

"Gmez unflinchingly shares how adult physical and verbal violence warps a child's ability to love and causes psychological wounds with no statute of limitations. Her lyric grace renders so many painful moments into riveting vignettes and unforgettable imagery. Gmez's skillful crafting of this memoir immediately earns its rightful place alongside contemporary memoirs such as Grace Talusan's The Body Papers, Kiese Laymon's Heavy, and Carmen Maria Machado's In the Dream House."

-Mara Luisa Arroyo Cruzado, MFA, MA

multilingual Boricua poet Pushcart Prize nominee intersectional feminist educator of color inaugural Poet Laureate (2014-2016) of Springfield, MA; author of Gathering Words: recogiendo palabras and Destierro Means More than Exile

-Lisa Aronson-Fontes, PhD; psychologist, professor, Fulbright Scholar, global speaker,

author of Invisible Chains: Overcoming Coercive Control in Your Intimate Relationship and Child Abuse and Culture: Working with Diverse Families.

-Diana Alvarez, PhD (a.k.a. Doctora Xingona) award-winning poet, songwriter, and opera composer, Quiero Volver: A Xicanx Ritual Opera

-Mara Luisa Arroyo Cruzado, MFA, MA