Nancy Kricorian's novels tell the stories of the Armenian diaspora, exiled but always seeking community
'She told me what had happened to her family during the deportations and massacres, as she called them,' Kricorian says. 'That was the beginning of my exploring this history. It had a very profound effect on me.'
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Each of her four novels has focused on the post-genocide Armenian diaspora, all of them springing from Kricorian's devotion to 'coming to terms with the unspoken shadow of this communal and family history.'
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Kricorian's work is fictional, but it relies heavily on her intense and hands-on research. 'I went to Beirut three times. in my writing I try to be really immersive and specific and detailed,' she says. 'So that when you're reading it you feel like you're there.'
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Vera, the novel's main character, is seen as an adult living in New York during 9/11, which re-opened the trauma of her early life in Beirut. For Kricorian, who also lived in New York in September 2001, it was important to revisit her old journals, mining them for stories and memories.
Publishing a book about multiple generations of refugees at a time when so many people are facing similar horrors has been intense, says Kricorian, who in addition to writing is also an organizer and activist. 'I was helping people fill out asylum applications and hearing horrific stories from people who had fled violence from all parts of the world,' she says, a reminder that many today face the same uncertainty and vulnerability her ancestors did more than a century ago
Nancy Kricorian will read at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 17, at
in Cambridge.
And now for some recommendations ...
Denne Michele Norris is editor of Electric Lit and winner of a Whiting Award; an anthology of essays by trans and gender-nonconforming writers of color is coming out this summer. She'd already be a big deal even without a novel, but wait — this week sees the publication of '
Sometimes a novel is just ahead of its time. '
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'
Adam Rovner's '
Kate Tuttle edits the Globe's Books section.
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