{"id":7436,"date":"2026-09-01T15:13:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T15:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/?p=7436"},"modified":"2026-09-10T19:28:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T19:28:27","slug":"professor-emily-lordi-releases-whitney-houston-biography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/professor-emily-lordi-releases-whitney-houston-biography\/","title":{"rendered":"Professor Emily Lordi set to release Whitney Houston biography"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Professor <a href=\"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/bio\/emily-lordi\/\">Emily Lordi<\/a> will release her critical biography of Whitney Houston on September 29.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-7437\" src=\"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/09\/Picture3-209x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"209\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/09\/Picture3-209x300.png 209w, https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/09\/Picture3.png 405w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 209px) 100vw, 209px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.harpercollins.com%2Fproducts%2Fholding-lightning-emily-lordi%3Fvariant%3D44726161211426&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cmatthew.dicintio%40Vanderbilt.Edu%7Cab7fa36c4a4a483cc03d08df078a7607%7Cba5a7f39e3be4ab3b45067fa80faecad%7C0%7C0%7C639237963402525308%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=b%2FBMHI2EXQ9iHZD9e8zTbLNc7t13ooOwH%2FIr6DNyZqo%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Holding Lightning: The Life, Loves, and Art of Whitney Houston<\/i><\/a>, leading cultural critic and professor Emily Lordi has gained unique access to Houston\u2019s innermost circle to show us the Whitney we\u2019ve been unwilling to see\u2014her fluid sexuality, her unapologetic love of her own talent, her insistence that she be the architect of her own career. And, crucially, Lordi positions Houston\u2019s pivotal life in the long history of Black celebrity. Before \u201crooting for everybody Black\u201d became the norm, Whitney worked as a relentless advocate for Black female talent across the entertainment industry.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-7441 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/09\/Lordi-150x150.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/09\/Lordi-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/09\/Lordi-175x175.jpeg 175w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>Professor Lordi&#8217;s upcoming public appearances include a conversation with Ann Powers and book-signing on <strong>October 10<\/strong> at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nmaam.org\/events\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">National Museum of African American Music<\/a> and a panel with Jamie Fisher on <strong>October 18<\/strong> at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sofestofbooks.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Southern Festival of Books<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Lordi builds for us a Whitney who exemplifies Black excellence, yet she respects Whitney\u2019s humanity by seamlessly including the truth of her complexes and complexities. Whitney has agency. She has creative control. She has passion. She has details and demons. Rather than giving her her flowers, Lordi lavishly gives Whitney Houston her layers and wings. This is a rendering all Black girl geniuses deserve.&#8221; &#8211;<\/em>Michaela angela Davis, author of <em>Tenderheaded<\/em> and co-author of <em>The Meaning of Mariah Carey<\/em><\/p>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/news\/\">more news<\/a><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Professor Emily Lordi will release her critical biography of Whitney Houston on September 29. In Holding Lightning: The Life, Loves, and Art of Whitney Houston, leading cultural critic and professor Emily Lordi has gained unique access to Houston\u2019s innermost circle to show us the Whitney we\u2019ve been unwilling to see\u2014her fluid sexuality, her unapologetic love&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":7438,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[8,19,22],"tags":[5],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-09-01-095743.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7436"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7436"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7475,"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7436\/revisions\/7475"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}