Lyn Di Iorio has just published her first novel, Outside the Bones (Arte Publico, 2011). Set in both present-day New York and Puerto Rico, the erotically charged Outside the Bones weaves Afro-Caribbean witchcraft rituals with the sixteen-year-old mystery of a woman’s disappearance.
Description: Lyn Di Iorio’s first novel is a weirdly compelling, funny, sexy, and deeply strange tale of a Nuyorican practitioner of Palo Monte, a Caribbean form of magic with African roots. Fina, who narrates the story in a sassy, earthy voice, has been putting spells on people for some time, but it has been mostly for show. She wants to learn how to really communicate with the spirits, so apprentices herself to Victor, a well-known master of magic. Once he initiates Fina into his dark arts, she begins to interact with the spirits of the dead. She wants to use her new powers to discourage two women who have turned the head of Chico, a musician with whom Fina has fallen in love. But as Fina begins to communicate with the spirits, she connects with a woman who vanished from a Puerto Rican beach 16 years ago and has plans of her own.
Lyn Di Iorio holds an M.A. in creative writing from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in English from University of California-Berkeley. She is associate professor of English at City College and CUNY Graduate Center, where she teaches courses on Caribbean and U.S. Latino/a Literatures and fiction writing.
For purchasing information, see http://www.amazon.com/Outside-Bones-Lyn-Iorio/dp/1558857036
Also see review at http://www.classical917.org/print-articles/1318271759-Classical-91.7-Arte-Publico-Author-of-the-Month-Lyn-Di-Iorio.html
[...] religions in literature today and about her first novel, Outside the Bones [see previous post New Book: Lyn Di Iorio’s “Outside the Bones”]. Here are [...]
By: Lyn Di Iorio Speaks about Writing “Outside the Bones” « Repeating Islands on October 13, 2011
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