Annell López is a new member of our community. An immigrant from the Dominican Republic, she recently completed her master’s in fine arts from the University of New Orleans. Her new book “I’ll Give You a Reason,” published by the Feminist Press, is a highly acclaimed collection of short stories. This is also her first book and it has already won the Louise Meriwether Prize and received great reviews from places such as  Kirkus, Today.com, HipLatina, The Southern Booksellers Review, The Massachusetts Review of Books and Ms. Magazine. 

According to the book’s publicity, Annell López’s indelible characters tread the waters of political unrest, sexuality, religion, body image, Blackness, colorism, and gentrification—searching for their identities and a sliver of joy and intimacy. Through each story, a nuanced portrait of the “American Dream” emerges, uplifting the voices of those on its margins.” 

When everyone in politics today has an opinion on immigration, perhaps we should look at this writer who has come to our city, even though she writes about other places in her journey. Books help us view the experiences of others. They open our eyes and hearts. This new voice from the country that shares its island with Haiti may come with perspectives that we want to take into account. 

Embers

Speaking of Haiti, “The Exile’s Song: Edmond Dédé and the Unfinished Revolutions of the Atlantic World”  is a biography of a famous 19th century composer who came from that nation when it was San Domingue. Dédé was born in New Orleans and made a name for himself with music that is still performed by OperaCréole, our local historical musical company. The book by Sally McKee was published in 2017 and is described as the “extraordinary story of African American composer Edmond Dédé, raised in antebellum New Orleans, and his remarkable career in France.”

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Annell López’s first book ‘lifts voices on the margins’

by Fatima Shaik, Verite News New Orleans
September 24, 2024

<h1>Annell López’s first book ‘lifts voices on the margins’</h1> <p class="byline">by Fatima Shaik, Verite News New Orleans <br />September 24, 2024</p> <p>Annell López is a new member of our community. An immigrant from the Dominican Republic, she recently completed her master’s in fine arts from the University of New Orleans. Her new book “I’ll Give You a Reason,” published by the Feminist Press, is a highly acclaimed collection of short stories. This is also her first book and it has already won the Louise Meriwether Prize and received great reviews from places such as  Kirkus, Today.com, HipLatina, The Southern Booksellers Review, The Massachusetts Review of Books and Ms. Magazine. </p> <p>According to the book’s publicity, Annell López’s indelible characters tread the waters of political unrest, sexuality, religion, body image, Blackness, colorism, and gentrification—searching for their identities and a sliver of joy and intimacy. Through each story, a nuanced portrait of the “American Dream” emerges, uplifting the voices of those on its margins.”&nbsp;</p> <p>When everyone in politics today has an opinion on immigration, perhaps we should look at this writer who has come to our city, even though she writes about other places in her journey. Books help us view the experiences of others. They open our eyes and hearts. This new voice from the country that shares its island with Haiti may come with perspectives that we want to take into account.&nbsp;</p> <h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-embers">Embers</h3> <p>Speaking of Haiti, “The Exile's Song: Edmond Dédé and the Unfinished Revolutions of the Atlantic World”&nbsp; is a biography of a famous 19th century composer who came from that nation when it was San Domingue. Dédé was born in New Orleans and made a name for himself with music that is still performed by OperaCréole, our local historical musical company. The book by Sally McKee was published in 2017 and is described as the “extraordinary story of African American composer Edmond Dédé, raised in antebellum New Orleans, and his remarkable career in France.”</p> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://stg-veritenewsorg-staging.kinsta.cloud/2024/09/24/annell-lopez-ill-give-you-a-reason/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://stg-veritenewsorg-staging.kinsta.cloud&quot;&gt;Verite News New Orleans&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://cdn.veritenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/11131054/cropped-Verite-icon-150x150.png&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;&lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://stg-veritenewsorg-staging.kinsta.cloud/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=17347&amp;amp;ga4=G-MBPTYVCMYR&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://stg-veritenewsorg-staging.kinsta.cloud/2024/09/24/annell-lopez-ill-give-you-a-reason/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/stg-veritenewsorg-staging.kinsta.cloud/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;</p> Copy to Clipboard

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