Books: Claiming an Aesthetics of Excess

Books

September 19, 2022 • View in browser

Miami, Chonga Girls, and Claiming an Aesthetics of Excess

Author Jillian Hernandez theorizes the intersecting formations of gender, class, and race in relation to the self-presentation of Black and Latina women and girls. | Alicia Eler

Hernandez’s own voice most comes through when she discusses her background as the daughter of first-generation, working-class Cuban and Puerto Rican migrants raised in Latinx enclaves of West New York, New Jersey, and Miami. Much like the girls she works with through Women on the Rise!, the story begins and ends with the personal-as-political, the most potent perspective of all.

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ARTISTS & WRITERS

New Book Asks, Why Do Artists Make Art?

In no small feat, Why I Make Art condenses artists’ multifaceted, meandering spoken stories into lively, relatable narratives that draw the reader in. | Lauren Moya Ford

The Conflicted Inner Life of a Queer Literary Icon

A reimagining of the life of renowned queer author Patricia Highsmith isn’t a tale of admiration or condemnation, but one about the complex nature of womanhood. | Ayoola Solarin

In Lewis Warsh’s Poem Composed Over Many Decades, the Past Is Never Really Past

Mortality and memory are points of inquiry in this posthumous publication. | John Curley