Bücher veröffentlicht von Nauset Press

Trashland starts off with its hero Gam-which in Armenian means both "I exist" and "or else"-a clever play on words, standing atop a hill as he relieves himself on the Armenian capital of Yerevan below. Once a muckraking journalist nicknamed "The Hedgehog," Gam fled a life-shattering earthquake in his home city of Gyumri into a life of subsistence, living in a small hut near the garbage dump. Trashland was received with dismay by many of Armenia's so-called intelligentsia. Everything from the title to the brutal honesty of its narrative took many by surprise. Just as Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao takes a candid look at the Dominican community in New York City and the Dominican Republic, Trashland offers an insider's view of an often-insular society. As a diasporan Armenian, Donikian writes from a privileged vantage point. Playing devil's advocate, he has superseded the expectations assigned to diasporans as cash cows to be bilked for imaginary projects or retirees who come to spend their hard-earned money in their golden years. To cross this line, one must love one's people and community. To lay bare its deepest wounds and expose its most deep-seated corruption-those are the signs of a true patriot and humanist. Few novels deliver quite such acerbic, and at times lively societal criticism. Trashland serves as a dirge- and underneath it all, a paean- to a country abandoned to its worst tendencies.

In Nancy Agabian's The Fear of Large and Small Nations, feminist writer and teacher Natalee--aka Na--flees the conservative fearmongering of George W. Bush's America to reclaim her cultural roots in post-Soviet Armenia. As she contends with rigid gender roles and rampant homophobia, learning the language when her linguistic roots in the Ottoman Empire have all but disappeared, and centering her identity as a bisexual Armenian American woman amid her own secret desire for love, Na is soon left with more questions than answers about where her fractured self belongs in the world. When she falls for Seyran, a much younger bisexual punk rocker who seems to value her for who she is, it comes as a relief: in a culture where marriage is seen as a source of protection for women, Na has the satisfaction of subverting societal expectations by shielding Seyran from conscription and, after marrying and moving to New York together, deportation. But when Seyran reveals an abusive side, Na becomes trapped in a dangerous codependent web, complicated by intergenerational trauma, political ideals, and, above all, love. To leave him, she will have to choose herself--whoever that is. Written in gripping short stories interspersed with intimate journal entries and blog posts, the fragmented narrative reveals what is lost in the tightrope journey between cultures ravaged by violence and colonialism--and what is gained when one woman seizes control of her story, pulsating in its many shades and realities, daring to be witnessed.

Introducing Fierce, thirteen powerful, entwined biographies and memoirs that describe a staunchly Feminist approach: "To thine own self be true." Historical documentation of human affairs informs the past, but what of the understated and overlooked herstories of half of the world's population? Fierce explores the lives of "masterless women" in education, entrepreneurship, religion, the armed forces, the arts, adventuring, and activism, celebrating their strengths and achievements while questioning the systems that erased the significance of their influence and importance. The writers range in age from their 20s to their 60s, and they hail from diverse heritages and orientations. By sharing the context of their unique life experiences, the authors emphasize their connection to each of their herstorical subjects, whose various provenances span continents and centuries. These essays shine a light on the shadowy, lesser-known impact that women have had on global history through the importance of each of these herstories:• A writer questioning the pervasive sway of caste systems in her own life considers a humble 19th-century Indian woman who made a terrible sacrifice and changed an unfair law.• The blacklisted Armenian intellectual who disappeared without a trace mirrors the loss of information about the essayist's own family in the diaspora and similarly reflects the ongoing decline of her elderly mother's cognitive abilities.• A woman evoked from Native American oral history is inspiring a new generation of young women to create thoughtful and dynamic change inside and outside of their community.• One writer's antiwar sensibility is challenged and transforms into that of sympathetic recognition as she regards the roles of murderous aviatrixes in World War II. Along with striking frontispiece illustrations, additional bonus material encompasses an extensive Reader's Guide including book group materials and substantial writing and conversation prompts, creating a noteworthy compendium to aid contemplation and a better understanding of these herstories that analyzes their links to contemporary and future female narratives. Armed with this knowledge and these truths, each reader can become, "A queen because she ruled over herself, and because she ruled over herself, a queen." - From Radiant Identity: Chicaba Herstories