Lorraine Avila

Lorraine Avila is an American writer and translator.

Biography Avila is a writer of Dominican American descent. She is from the Bronx.

She has a degree in English from Fordham University, a Master of Arts in Secondary English education from New York University, and an MFA in fiction from the University of Pittsburgh. She worked as an educator in New York City schools for several years.

She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2019 for the personal essay "How to Leave Home". It received starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly. A review in The Horn Book noted, "A gripping plot drives this deftly written novel that straddles the known and unknown worlds; Avila skillfully depicts the reality of growing up as a Black Latinx teen in the midst of racial violence and social upheaval". Kirkus Reviews called it "a remarkable, beautifully rendered debut". Celestial Summer. 2022. . (as translator) High Spirits. Levine Querido, 2022. . The Making of Yolanda la Bruja. Levine Querido, 2023. .