Another Great Writer of Color: Lorraine Lopez and her Gifted Gabaldon Sisters

[This is a review of The Gifted Gabaldon Sisters by Lorraine López that I posted on this blog a while back. I'm bringing it forward into my Books of Interest by Writers of Color series. I will be looking at her newest novel soon also.]

I first met Lorraine López at Con Tinta in Chicago earlier this year at AWP, the national conference of writers and university writing programs. López is one of the organizers of Con Tinta, the annual pachanga of Latino writers and their literary allies from around the country. She is also a veteran of the famous Macondo writing workshop. A professor at Vanderbilt University, López is a charming, soft-spoken woman, whose second book of short stories will be published this fall by BkMk Press at UMKC. [This book, Homicide Survivors' Picnic, was a finalist for the 2010 PEN/Faulkner Award in Fiction, making López the first Latina to become a finalist for that prestigious award.]

López’s first novel, The Gifted Gaboldón Sisters (Grand Central Publishing), raised high expectations since her first short story collection, Soy la Avon Lady and Other Stories (Curbstone Press), won the Latino Book Award and other awards, and her young adult novel, Call Me Henri (Curbstone Press), won the Paterson Prize. The Gifted Gaboldón Sisters exceeds those expectations handily. Four young sisters depend on the family’s mysterious and ancient Pueblo servant, Fermina, after their mother’s death. Early in the book, Fermina dies, after promising each girl a gift. Throughout the book, the story of the sisters’ journey to adulthood with the special gifts endowed by Fermina—Bette’s stories, Loretta’s healing, Rita’s cursing, and Sophia’s laughter—alternates with Fermina’s own gripping story of kidnapping and slavery told to a writer long before the girls were born. The two threads come together as the adult sisters, in a time of crisis for each, journey together across the country and into the past to discover who Fermina was and what kind of magic their capricious gifts really came from. López peoples her book with characters so fresh and alive you expect to meet them just around the block. The rich, vivid writing entwines the reader deeply in the lives of the girls, their relatives, and their lovers. Fermina’s story enlightens and interconnects with theirs from the distant past. The book’s theme focuses on the lives of women in the past and present, how the distant past informs their present identities, and how they overcome or make peace with the limitations life hands them. This is a book you will go back to again and again.

[López is one of the most gifted writers of fiction today. She writes from a position of respect and caring for even her most hapless and out-of-control characters, allowing the reader to see through her eyes the possibilities and hope at each one's core.

Her novels are published by a major publisher, and here's the Amazon link. If you'd rather buy Homicide Survivor's Picnic from the small press that published it, here's that link with a video of her reading it, as well. Readers of this blog will know that I always encourage folks to support the small and university presses who publish most of the new writers in this country.]

Back to the usual format of this series on writers of color at the end of the week.

AWP

I’m back from an exciting and exhausting time at the AWP in Chicago. My head’s still reeling, and my poor body’s trying to recuperate.

Some quick highlights:

A wonderful selection of panels dealing with Latino and Native American themes and issues, especially “Diverging Lines” (new directions for Latino poetry), “Something to Declare?” (America’s internal borders and writers’ experiences in crossing them), “Las Mocosas Gritan” (wonderful reading by a group of Macondistas), “After Magic Realism” (new directions in Latino writing), “Speaking Of and To Others” (Indigenous Poetics).

Con Tinta. WOW! Great pachanga of Latino writers in a great venue with delicious food.

Palabra Pura: Special Edition “One Poem Reading.” Fabulous venue, great crowd, wonderful and wonderfully diverse poems by poets from all over the country.

Getting to meet writers I’ve admired for years—Linda Hogan, Simon Ortiz, Lorraine Lopez, Cornelius Eady. Getting to meet new writers I’ve just started reading and admiring in the last year or so—Lisa Alvarado, Carlos Cumpian, Daniel Olivas, Paul Martinez Pompa—and new writers I’d not been aware of—Aaron Michael Morales, Johanny Vasquez Paz, Juan Manuel Sanchez. Making new friendships with some of them that I hope to continue.

Getting to see old friends, such as Diane Glancy, Robin Becker, Marilyn Kallett.

Coming away with editors who want to see my next manuscript, with promises to review my book, with promises to adopt the Collective’s anthology in courses, and more.

More later.

Palabra Pura at AWP in Chicago Next Week

Next week, I'm heading off to the AWP (Associated Writers & Writing Programs) national conference in Chicago, February 11-14. I'm looking forward to seeing lots of old friends and attending their panels and meeting lots of new people. Most of all, I'm looking forward to reading in the special Palabra Pura "One Poem Festival" on Friday night and visiting with lots of interesting folks at Con Tinta the night before.

Friday, February 13
Special Edition: "One Poem Festival"

(AWP off-site event)

6:00 - 7:30 PM
@Jazz Showcase

Lisa Alvarado
Carlos Cumpian
Silvia Curbelo
Gina Franco
Gabe Gomez
Irasema Gonzalez
Maurice Kilwein Guevara
Gabriela Jauregui
Olivia Maciel
Carl Marcum
Valerie Martínez
Orlando Ricardo Menes
Achy Obejas
Daniel A. Olivas
Johanny Vázquez Paz
Paul Martinez Pompa
Linda Rodríguez
Jacob Saenz
Jorge Sánchez
Juan Manuel Sanchez
Rich Villar

co-sponsored by Poetry magazine

Thursday, February 12

6:30PM-8:30PM

Con Tinta Celebration
Location: COCO Restaurant, 2723 W. Division St, CHICAGO 60622
Cost: Free Buffet / Cash Bar
Website: http://www.cocochicago.com/
Fourth Annual Pachanga for the Chicano/Latino Literary community and its allies. Event will include special recognition of Patti Hartmann, presentation of Achievement Award to Carlos Cortez, and readings/tributes by Carlos Cumpian, Lisa Alvarado, and Ray Gonzalez. For more information, contact Richard Yañez (ryanez4@epcc.edu).