And his death brings about all of these secrets that he had, but also opens a doorway for them to learn about the fact that they have a sister in another country. And here she is: Elizabeth Acevedo.Įlizabeth Acevedo: Clap When You Land is the story of two sisters who learn, after their father dies in a plane crash, that he had secret families that he had two separate household, and they do not know about each other. She and I spoke in March at the NEA Studios before the shutdowns. And I'm not going to attempt to give you a synopsis of the book. It uses that tragic plane crash as its jumping-off point. Clap When You Land is, once again, a novel in verse. It's about Emoni, a high-school student who's a mother, and who also is determined to become a chef. Elizabeth Acevedo's next book, With the Fire On High, is a novel told in prose, and filled with fabulous recipes. The Poet X, if you haven't read it- and if you haven't read it, you should read it, because it's a great book- it's a novel in verse, and it tells the story of 15-year-old Xiomara, as she wrestles with her mother's expectations, and discovers herself through slam poetry. She's been involved with Poetry Out Loud for five years, hosting the POL finals for the last four, which means we knew her before her first book, The Poet X, won the National Book Award. And let me also say, Elizabeth Acevedo and the Arts Endowment go back a long way. And they have at their centers teenage girls learning to navigate life, relaxing into and pushing against their upbringings. Elizabeth Acevedo is a poet and novelist whose books are alive with Dominican-American and Afro-Caribbean culture and community. And this is Art Works, the weekly podcast produced by the National Endowment for the Arts.
She's talking about her recent book, Clap When You Land. Jo Reed: That is author, National Book Award winner, and host of the last four Poetry Out Loud finals, Elizabeth Acevedo. And I've always thought back to that tragedy, the second-worst in United States history, and just wondered, like, something that was so massive for the community I'm from, but very few people know about. We knew people who had relatives on the flight, and the way that they were affected. I mean, we knew people who were on the flight. Right? And it really rocked my community. Over 255 people passed, and I remember learning that over 90 percent of the people on the flight were Dominican. This was in 2001, two months after September 11 th.
Used courtesy of the Free Music Archive.Įlizabeth Acevedo: Clap When You Land is loosely based on a true story of a flight that crashed on its way from New York City to the Dominican Republic. Music Credit: “NY” written and performed by Kosta, from the album Soul Sand.
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