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"in deep"..A DEEPLY RAW STORY
In Deep: How I Survived Gangs, Heroin, and Prison to Become a Chicago Violence Interrupter is Angalia Bianca’s unflinching memoir of life on Chicago’s West Side and her journey from addiction and incarceration to frontline anti‑violence work. Co‑written with Linda Beckstrom, the book took fourteen months to complete; together they walked Bianca’s old Uptown and West Side “stomping grounds,” revisiting the same streets and abandoned buildings she once called home so every scene would feel as real on the page as it did in her memory. That research process allowed Bianca to dig deep into traumatic, intimate chapters of her life and retell them with stark honesty—exposing the everyday violence, hustles, and survival tactics that rarely make it into policy reports or news headlines.
Published by Chicago Review Press and released on October 1, 2018, In Deep quickly found an audience far beyond Chicago, selling thousands of copies worldwide, earning multiple awards, and being named the Chicago Writers Association’s 2019 Book of the Year for Traditional Nonfiction. The book has resonated with readers from many walks of life—people in recovery, criminal‑justice professionals, students, faith communities, and those who have lost loved ones to the streets—because Bianca “keeps it real,” never softening the brutality of gang life, addiction, and prison, yet showing how hope and redemption can still emerge from those depths.
Published by Chicago Review Press and released on October 1, 2018, In Deep quickly found an audience far beyond Chicago, selling thousands of copies worldwide, earning multiple awards, and being named the Chicago Writers Association’s 2019 Book of the Year for Traditional Nonfiction.
The book has resonated with readers from many walks of life—people in recovery, criminal‑justice professionals, students, faith communities, and those who have lost loved ones to the streets—because Bianca “keeps it real,” never softening the brutality of gang life, addiction, and prison, yet showing how hope and redemption can still emerge from those depths.
International rap star Kevin Gates and his wife, Dreka Gates, were so moved by Bianca’s story that they wrote the foreword to In Deep, becoming two of her most visible champions, while Chicago rapper Vic Mensa praised the book as “riveting, poignant, and necessary,” saying you believe Bianca because you can tell she means every word. Hip‑hop endorsements, packed book tours, and countless heartfelt reviews have turned In Deep into both a best‑selling street‑level narrative and a tool for change; Bianca now plans to donate copies to prisons, hoping her story will reach people still trapped in the same destructive cycles she escaped.
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