Alicia Cook

In Alicia Cook's second poetic effort, designed in the style of an old mixtape, she sets her thoughts to a nostalgic tune. There is no Table of Contents. Instead, there is a "Track List," making it easy to refer to them to your friends with a, "Hey did you read track seven?!" There are no chapters. Instead, the book is divided into two parts, or as one would say in the 90's, two "sides." Side A holds poetry that touches on all aspects of the human condition like life, death, love, moving on, evolving, growing up, hometowns, family dynamic, life after trauma, and make-ups and breakups. Side B holds the "remixes" of these poems, in the form of blackout poetry, also known as "found poetry." Side B gives the material a fresh twist by creating new poetry out of Side A. There is also a very special surprise at the end of each track. Alicia decided to self publish this effort after leaving her publishing house. She views this book as her "independence" and official separation from that venture. She also drew the front and back cover herself. Alicia is a contributing writer for many blogs and news outlets, including the Huffington Post and multiple Gannett Publications. She writes regularly on drug addiction and how it directly affects families. Because of this, she has chosen to donate 100% of royalties to the Willow Tree Center in New Jersey. www.willowtree.org. Follow Alicia on Instagram: @thealiciacook or check out her website: www.thealiciacook.com.

Stuff I've Been Feeling Lately

Sorry I haven't texted you back, I've been so anxious and depressed I haven't had time to catch my breath! Returning to the form of Stuff I've Been Feeling Lately, Sorry I Haven't Texted You Back is a beacon of light for all who struggle or have struggled with their mental health. Structured similar to her first book, "Side A" is the poetry and "Side B" (the second half of the book) is "remixes," blackout versions of the poetry. The focus on mental health doesn't sacrifice universal appeal; the book includes the evergreen issues of love, loss, and heartbreak. Based on her viral Instagram poem, Sorry I Haven't Texted You Back, this collection lands in the crossroads of self-help and poetry.

Sorry I Haven't Texted You Back

Bestselling writer and activist Alicia Cook returns with I Hope My Voice Doesn't Skip, a collection of poetry, prose, and song. The follow-up to Stuff I've Been Feeling Lately contains anthem-like poems about relationships, mental health, current social issues, and learning from loss, with the promise that recovery is possible. The reader's experience with this unique collection is lifted from the page as Cook has collaborated with a number of up and coming musicians to transform some of her poetry into song. Like her debut book, this one is divided into two parts. Modeled after a vinyl record this time, the collection is separated into the EP record, holding Cook's shorter poetry, and the LP record, holding Cook's longer poetry, prose, and songwriting. Together, they form an inspiring collection for all those recovering from something.

I Hope My Voice Doesn't Skip

Some good things must come to an end, for new things to begin. Poet Alicia Cook explores this grievous emotion in her latest and final mixtape collection, The Music Was Just Getting Good.
Alicia Cook is back with the highly anticipated final tracklist in her poetry collection of mixtapes, The Music Was Just Getting Good. Following in the footsteps of her first two installments, Stuff I’ve Been Feeling Lately (2016) and Sorry I Haven’t Texted You Back (2020), Cook is closing out her trilogy with a poignant and all too relatable look at the ebbs and flows of life. And why, even during our most difficult seasons, a better day can appear just around the corner.
 
Spread across 184 tracks (92 poems and 92 blackout poems), each paired with an accompanying song, Cook returns to her evergreen themes of mental health, hope, and recovery, and reminds readers that grief is not reserved solely for death. We may grieve who we used to be, moments that never came to pass, physical places, and, of course, people; people who’ve died, but also those who left, and those we had to leave behind.
 
A stunning closing number in a timely and necessary collection of work, The Music Was Just Getting Good is the balm your soul has been waiting for.

The Music Was Just Getting Good

"We confuse passion and pain, turn each other into liars. We become colliding trains; no survivors, no survivors." Alicia Cook, the bestselling author behind Stuff I've Been Feeling Lately, returns with Anomaly, a melodic journey of the ending, the mending, the falling, and the loving. This surprise release of love poetry is comprised of prose, song, and illustrations.

A Concept Album

Anomaly

I Was Born in April

The debut poetry collection from Alicia Cook

Entranced

Some good things must come to an end, for new things to begin. Poet Alicia Cook explores this grievous emotion in her latest and final mixtape collection, The Music Was Just Getting Good. Alicia Cook is back with the highly anticipated final tracklist in her poetry collection of mixtapes, The Music Was Just Getting Good. Following in the footsteps of her first two installments, Stuff I’ve Been Feeling Lately (2016) and Sorry I Haven’t Texted You Back (2020), Cook is closing out her trilogy with a poignant and all too relatable look at the ebbs and flows of life. And why, even during our most difficult seasons, a better day can appear just around the corner. Spread across 184 tracks (92 poems and 92 blackout poems), each paired with an accompanying song, Cook returns to her evergreen themes of mental health, hope, and recovery, and reminds readers that grief is not reserved solely for death. We may grieve who we used to be, moments that never came to pass, physical places, and, of course, people; people who’ve died, but also those who left, and those we had to leave behind. A stunning closing number in a timely and necessary collection of work, The Music Was Just Getting Good is the balm your soul has been waiting for.

Some good things must come to an end, for new things to begin. Poet Alicia Cook explores this grievous emotion in her latest and final mixtape collection, The Music Was Just Getting Good. Alicia Cook is back with the highly anticipated final tracklist in her poetry collection of mixtapes, The Music Was Just Getting Good. Following in the footsteps of her first two installments, Stuff I've Been Feeling Lately (2016) and Sorry I Haven't Texted You Back (2020), Cook is closing out her trilogy with a poignant and all too relatable look at the ebbs and flows of life. And why, even during our most difficult seasons, a better day can appear just around the corner. Spread across 184 tracks (92 poems and 92 blackout poems), each paired with an accompanying song, Cook returns to her evergreen themes of mental health, hope, and recovery, and reminds readers that grief is not reserved solely for death. We may grieve who we used to be, moments that never came to pass, physical places, and, of course, people; people who've died, but also those who left, and those we had to leave behind. A stunning closing number in a timely and necessary collection of work, The Music Was Just Getting Good is the balm your soul has been waiting for.

Poems to Grieve by

In 2015, 52,000 people in the United States overdosed on drugs and died. Never in recorded history had narcotics killed so many Americans in a single year. According to New York Magazine, the drug-induced death toll was so staggering, it helped reduce life expectancy in the United States for the first time since 1993. Heroin is the Worst Thing to Ever Happen to Me, named after an essay of Cook's that was read over 1.2 million times, is a collection of essays on the topic of addiction both previously published in Cook's "The Other Side of Addiction" series and unpublished. The book is designed to simultaneously inform and comfort those affected by the disease of addiction, particularly the families who bear witness to their loved ones' downward spiral into the world of addiction. Having addiction enter one's home can be isolating and terrifying. There are very little resources made available to the family members of those who become addicted to a substance. This book provides those enduring this utter nightmare with narratives and resources (terminology, additional reading in footnotes, and information on virtual/physical organizations) to empower the reader to push back against the stigma, statistics, and heartache attached to drug and alcohol addiction. In the following pages, you will hear from people who have "been there." Everyday warriors who fight tirelessly and endlessly to create change, in hopes another is saved from the same fate. Though some names have been changed, the pages contain real accounts from real people who battle addiction and are in recovery or love someone who struggles with addiction. Foreword written by PBS Executive Producer, Steve Rogers and Afterword written by State Congressman, Tom MacArthur. Alicia Cook is an established author and activist from New Jersey, where the rate of heroin overdose is three times the national average. Her work has appeared on the Huffington Post, CNN, USA Today, Teen Vogue, and many more. Her best-selling book of poetry, "Stuff I've Been Feeling Lately", was a finalist in the 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards and her series, "The Other Side of Addiction", which focuses on the direct effect addiction has on not only users, but their families, is read by millions of people across the country. Her efforts to combat the heroin epidemic, which include writing, appearing on podcasts, and speaking to students and their parents, caught the attention of PBS Executive Producer, Steve Rogers who created an episode of his Emmy-nominated documentary series, "Here's the Story" around Cook and her efforts entitled "A Family Disease." The episode was dedicated to Cook's cousin, Jessica, who passed away from a drug overdose in 2006.

Alicia Cook

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