Lorraine M. López Biography
Lorraine M. López, Professor Emerita, and Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair, Emerita, retired from Vanderbilt University on August 16, 2021, having served as Professor of English, Director of Creative Writing, and Faculty Director of Latino and Latina Studies. For the 2021-22 Academic Year, Lorraine served as Research Professor of English, rounding out 20 years of service to the Vanderbilt community.
In addition to her distinguished teaching career (Harvie Branscombe Distinguished Professor Award, 2016), Lorraine has written seven works of fiction and edited or coedited three essay collections. Her first book, the short story collection, Soy la Avon Lady and Other Stories (Curbstone, 2002) won the inaugural Miguel Marmól prize for fiction, and her first novel, Call Me Henri (Curbstone, 2006) was awarded the Paterson Prize for Young Adult Literature in 2007. Homicide Survivors Picnic and Other Stories (BkMk Books, 2009) was a Finalist for the prestigious PEN/Faulkner Prize in Fiction in 2010 and winner of the Texas League of Writers Award for Outstanding Book of Fiction. The Gifted Gabaldón Sisters (Grand Central Press, 2008) and The Realm of Hungry Spirits (Grand Central Press, 2011) were Borders/Las Comadres Selections, and López’s short story collection, The Darling (University of Arizona Press, 2015) was a finalist for the International Latino Book Award. Lorraine's latest novel is entitled, Postcards From the Gerund State: Stories (BkMk, 2019). Her three edited/coedited essay collections are, An Angle of Vision: Women Writers on Their Poor or Working-Class Roots (University of Michigan Press, 2009), award-winning, The Other Latin@: Writing against a Singular Identity (University of Arizona Press, 2011), and Rituals of Movement in the Writing of Judith Ortiz Cofer (Caribbean Studies Press, 2012). Lorraine's work has appeared in multiple anthologies, journals, and other publications. She has served on the board of, and as associate editor for The Afro-Hispanic Review, and co-founded, with Professor William Luis, the Latino and Latina Studies Program. Lorraine is honored to have been the subject of a recent edition of the South Atlantic Review (Spring 2020). She now resides in Ashville, North Carolina, where she is at work on multiple writing projects.