BARING IT ALL
The Personal Writings Of Nico Tortorella
Nico Tortorella is on the upswing. The non-binary, bi+ actor became a household name with TVLand’s sexy show Younger. In the series, they play a cis, straight dude who runs a tattoo parlor and is madly in love with the long-legged Sutton Foster. Nico’s performance is beyond amazing, but it’s their activism and writing off-screen that adds to this multi-dimensional human being.
Nico released their debut memoir, Space Between, in October. For some readers, it was a way to get to know the person they love on screen. For others, it was an educational text on gender and sexuality. The book reads like a love letter to their partner, holistic fitness guru Bethany C. Meyers, who is also non-binary. Nico bares it all in the memoir, revealing deep, personal anecdotes about their life and the effect of stardom. And as a person who grew up in the Midwest, Nico provides a Middle America perspective that could be used by those trying to educate themselves on the changing world around them.
But PROVOKR fell in love with Nico through their poetry. Before Space Between, there was the 246-page book of poetry, All Of It Is You. The collection’s title serves as the mantra for the author, providing a meditative nature to the book. It’s split into three parts: Body, Earth and Universe. Each one explores those topics and how it relates to them. (Watch Nico read three poems here.)
The works are moving, provoking your mind to wander and explore the text and how it relates to you. It’s like yoga for the brain: causing the muscles to flex and stretch past their previous ability.
But the space between and all of it is you go hand-in-hand. In a poem titled “them.” the lowercase, typewriter font explores the purpose of asking people’s pronouns and not assuming based on someone’s appearance. It’s Nico. All of it is them.
