Jordannah Elizabeth Interview (She Raised Her Voice!)
Jordannah Elizabeth is a freelance writer and the author of the new book She Raised Her Voice!: 50 Black Women Who Sang Their Way Into Music History. While Jordannah has written for a variety of publications, including Bitch Media and LA Weekly, this book is aimed at young readers, with short bios of each artist, accompanied by beautiful illustrations by Briana Dengoue.
How did you come to this subject for a book? What made a children’s book so interesting to you?
I was approached about writing this book by an editor at Running Press Kids. I assume that I was chosen to take on this project because of the extensive work I’ve done covering Black women musicians, particularly in alternative genres outside of what is considered “Urban music” like classical music, folk and jazz for publications like Bitch Media, where I was a music journalist for 5 years, LA Weekly and a number of other places since 2013.
Tell me a bit about the process of securing the book deal.