The University of Arizona Press
February 28, 2024
De Los Angeles by The Los Angeles Times features When Language Broke Open, An Anthology of Queer and Trans Black Writers of Latin American Descent , edited by Alan Pelaez Lopez, in “6 books to shake off colonialism and rethink our Latino stories.”
Reviewer Roxsy Lin says, “This anthology reflects on the lives of 45 contributors who generously share their experiences of pain, rejection and humiliation while highlighting their strength, pride and beauty.” The article praises specific contributors to the volume including Álida, a Dominican queer writer and educator, and Louie Ortiz-Fonseca, an Afro-Puerto Rican queer storyteller.
About the book:
By exploring themes of memory, care, and futurity, these contributions expand understandings of Blackness in Latin America, the Caribbean, and their U.S.-based diasporas. The volume offers up three central questions: How do queer and/or trans Black writers of Latin American descent address memory? What are the textures of caring, being cared for, and accepting care as Black queer and/or trans people of Latin American descent? And how do queer and trans embodiments help us understand and/or question the past and the present, and construct a Black, queer, and trans future?
