she/her; they/them
Isabella “Isa” Borgeson is a queer, mixed race, white and Filipina poet, community organizer, and teaching artist from Oakland. Isa was named a “Best New Poet” of 2018. She has received fellowships from Voices of Our Nation Art Foundation (2015, 2017), the Poetry Incubator through Crescendo Literary (2016), and AIR Serenbe as their 2019 Spoken Word Artist with a commitment to Community and Collaboration (SWACC!) Fellow. Most recently, she was named a 2020 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellow. Isa is a co-founder of The Root Slam – a free poetry venue in Oakland dedicated to promoting the artistic growth of the Bay Area poetry community. She currently organizes with the #StopSanQuentinOutbreak coalition around COVID-19 rapid response work to decarcerate all prisons. Isa’s commitment toward teaching poetry as a tool for resistance keeps her grounded in her communities from Oakland to Tanauan.
