I first met Georgia McCann a few years ago through a friend of a friend. Exactly whose party and when are details now lost to me, but what I do remember from our initial conversation struck me as deeply insightful: 1. Prominent cheekbones and sharp jawlines are signs of healthy hydration, 2. A year is plenty of time to date before moving in with a partner, and 3. A party is never complete without a little mess. So it made complete sense when she told me in 2024 that she’d been tapped to star in Bravo’s Next Gen NYC, and even more sense when it was announced earlier this summer that she’d be releasing her own book of poetry. Which is how I found myself wandering the streets of Midtown last Wednesday trying to find the entrance to Moss, a new private member’s club where the release party for McCann’s debut poetry book Blue Afternoon—a pocket-sized meditation on heartbreak and transient love published by Dream Boy Book Club—was scheduled to take place. When I finally made my way through the club’s golden revolving doors and shot up an elevator to the fourth floor, I instantly ran into McCann, who was surrounded by guests that were equal parts downtown club kid and Bravo-lebrity. The newly-minted poetess and I found a quiet corner, cheered our complimentary glasses of sauvignon blanc, and caught up.
WEDNESDAY 7:30 PM, AUGUST 12, 2026 NEW YORK CITY
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SOFI CISNEROS: How are you? How’s everything? The party is fab.
GEORGIA MCCANN: I’m well. Everything is honestly going better than expected. It’s crazy. It’s a very brilliant turnout, and the books are flying off the shelves.
CISNEROS: I know! I couldn’t even get a copy, they were out before I arrived.
MCCANN: We were supposed to have more physical prints, but apparently the pre-orders are doing really well, so they needed it for stocking.
CISNEROS: So, I know you as a friend of a friend, as Channel One girl, my party kiki. I always know we’re gonna have a good conversation.
MCCANN: Yeah, we’re gonna yap.
CISNEROS: The country knows you as Next Gen NYC girl, anti-hand-washing girl, and now you’re a poetess. Have you always been writing poetry?
MCCANN: I read a lot and I started getting into poetry in high school. Then, I had an ex in college who lived in China, while I was in New York. We’d send each other poems, but I always thought that there was an artistic moat around poetry, like it was something only “poets” did, but that’s just not true. I started writing then, and poetry became a very comforting outlet. I really appreciate the medium because you can express a really complex idea or feeling in a paragraph, whereas a movie or book might take hours to achieve.
CISNEROS: I was really struck by how tactile the images felt. There were so many scenes of melancholia, and relationships, and the city as a character. It was giving T.S. Eliot but, like, girl version. Can you elaborate on the themes?
MCCANN: I think you understood it well. What I’m about to describe is just going to be every coming-of-age thing, but it really is that—what friendship means in your life, what heartbreak means, your perspective changing as you grow up, young womanhood. And then, I incorporate a lot of cities in the text, particularly New York. But while I was writing it, I lived in Hawaii, in Pasadena. They take on a character of their own in the poem.
CISNEROS: That’s what I gravitate towards in literature, when the city is personified.
MCCANN: Exactly. I read a lot of Frank O’Hara. I think he does a brilliant job of making the city a person. I love everything he writes. I wish I lived his life. I wish I was in his world in that time period. He’s a huge reference for me.
CISNEROS: He’s the GOAT. So, season two of Next Gen is premiering right now.
MCCANN: Like, literally, as we’re sitting here, it’s airing right now. It’s so funny.
CISNEROS: That’s crazy. Why release this book now?
MCCANN: It wasn’t intentional that it was coinciding with the TV show. I didn’t even know I was publishing it until after we wrapped filming, so it’s not mentioned at all in the show. The official release is August 14th, which is also my ex’s birthday. We thought that was, like, a nice sign.
CISNEROS: Very metaphorical. The timing is so tumultuous in a good way.
MCCANN: [The show] definitely helped promote it, which I didn’t even consider. But in hindsight, I’m like, thank god.
CISNEROS: Talking Next Gen, I watched the first few episodes with my boyfriend’s mom when it came out last year and she was gagged I knew you.
MCCANN: [Laughs] That’s so funny people are gagged to know me. Like we came up together!
CISNEROS: I know! How’s this season’s rollout been so far?
MCCANN: It’s been good. I like this season, honestly, maybe a little more than last season. I think everyone’s more comfortable and the drama is more frequent. I say to so many people to just start with season two.
CISNEROS: I’m pretty hooked. Do you think you’re finding your stride as a Bravo reality TV star? How has that been?
MCCANN: I think in season one, people didn’t know what to make of me. It’s understandable because when I go to other parts of the country, I don’t know what to make of those people. It’s just very different from my life, but I feel love and respect for them. You get it because we come from the same world, but our world is not normal. We’re in a bubble. So I think it makes sense why, when people watch season one, they’re like, “I don’t know what to make of this girl.” Like, “she’s weird and says weird things and is dirty,” and this and that. And I’m like, wow, because in my groups I’m the most normal one. I’m the straightedge!
CISNEROS: Same. When I go home to San Francisco, my friends and family are like, why are you wearing that? What is that on your Story?
MCCANN: Literally. But in our world, I’m, like, the corporate one, dare I say. New York does not abide by the typical beauty standards. So yeah, it took a minute for people to warm up to me. I’ve been noticing people understand me more this season, which is cool.
CISNEROS: Yeah, it’s just a different bubble. Have your castmates reached out to you about your foray into poetry?
MCCANN: Brooks was very supportive. I didn’t really tell my castmates about it. I didn’t even tell my family about it! But they’re very supportive. Behind the scenes, they say nice things.
CISNEROS: It’s so interesting because, on camera, it doesn’t seem like it. Everyone has their talons out.
MCCANN: I think the dynamics have really shifted a lot. The seasons are filmed over two and a half months. It’s a very short period of time, so the dynamics shift a lot as the year goes on in between filming each season. They feel very different from even when we wrapped in December.
CISNEROS: What can we expect for these last couple of episodes?
MCCANN: Honestly, I think it becomes almost like a dating show. You’ll see.
CISNEROS: I’m sat. And are you going to keep writing poetry on the side?
MCCANN: Yes. I’ve literally written almost every day since I was probably 10. I keep a diary. I was in the film program at NYU where screenwriting was my focus. I’m a writer at heart. So the short answer is yes, but maybe I might find different mediums. I think my mom put me in too many extracurriculars because I’m like, oh, I want to do screenwriting, I want to write a book, I want—you know?
CISNEROS: That makes people interesting, I think. If your parents are putting you in a bunch of different shit as a child, then you just become an interesting adult.
MCCANN: Precisely.
