Fall happenings
I got back from Armenia only ten days ago. It was an amazing trip, with a highlight being my “Physical Translating” writing workshop reading at the “Queering Translation” art intervention on August 1. The women involved were incredible: engaged, creative, and generous with each other. They were all interested in the topic of writing about and through the body, but were all ages and from all walks of life. More details on the workshops can be found on the Queering Yerevan blog, here, here and here.
photo courtesty Anahit Hayrapetyan
Upcoming news: I’m excited to be reading with another Armenian women writer, Cathy Salbian,
740 University Avenue
in Rochester, New York
September 9, 7 pm
This is very cool as I just met Cathy last year at the UCLA Armenian Writer’s Conference, and we hit it off, writing on similar themes. I particularly loved her nonfiction about a spiritual ritual: funny, touching, yet also self-aware and questioning. She’s been exploring her family history in Western Armenia, and has also visited Armenia, so we have a lot in common and many stories and ideas to share.
I will also be doing a Gartal/Armenian Poetry Project “On the Road” event in Providence!
Reading with Lola Koundakjian and Michael Akillian
259 Atwells Avenue
Providence, RI
on October 28 , 6 pm
This was Lola’s idea, and is also very cool: bringing a local community event (Gartal and APP) to other cities and inviting local writers to join us. We’ll be contributing visual materials related to our written work for the gallery’s public art window, too. The reading will be part of Gallery Z’s “art food wine” monthly series.
In the winter, I am looking forward to a possible performance in Italy (fingers crossed) and contributing to the “Kin: Mixed Genre of Color” panel at AWP in February in Washington DC. So check back for more details.
Nancy
Summer 2010
1. My memoir Me as her again has been shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing:
http://library.stanford.edu/saroyan/shortlistsrelease2010.html
2. My personal essay about reviving my 90s-era, L.A.-based performance art/folk/punk band Guitar Boy to perform at the wonderful Wonder Cabinet at Occidental College appears on the happening art blog Hyperallergic.
3. I will be in Yerevan, Armenia for the month of July to teach a brief workshop on body-based writing:
“Physical Translating”
A creative writing workshop
“Physical Translating” is a body-based creative writing workshop for women. It will take place in conjunction with the WOW (Women-Oriented Women) Collective’s 3rd annual art intervention July 31-August 1, this year on Translation, at the Women’s Resource Center in Yerevan. In three Saturday morning three-hour sessions, workshop participants will collaborate to write prose (fiction and/or nonfiction, in English, Armenian, and/or other languages) about physical experiences — in illness, disconnection, pain, joy, experimentation, athleticism, sexuality, reproduction and otherwise.To stimulate discussion and prompt writing exercises, we will read short texts (in English and Armenian) by a range of contemporary multicultural women writers (possibly including Margaret Atwood, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Audre Lorde, Staceyann Chin), including Armenian writers (mostly selected from the anthologies Deviation, Matnashoonch and Der Hovanessian’s The Other Voice). Creative movement/performance exercises will also be incorporated to inspire writing. The series will culminate in a reading of new work during WOW’s weekend art intervention. A special section of the WRCA’s journal Feminist will feature work from “Physical Translating.”
Mid Spring 2010 Catch Up
I’m a little late with all this news, but Spring always seems to derail me. So, most of these tidbits are coming after the fact.
In March, I wrote about my experience performing at the Whitney Bienniale on Hyperallergic, a NYC-based art blog.
On April 2, Gartal co-hosted a reading with the Armenian Poetry Project at the Bowery Poetry Club, which included the Zephyr Poets from L.A. (Tina Demerdjian, Armine Iknadossian, Shahe Mankerian and Alene Terzian), Lola Koundakjian, Amir Parsa, Alan Semerdjian and me. It was super! Texts and recordings from the event, including one of my poems, can be found at the Armenian Poetry Project website.
My band Guitar Boy played at the Wondercabinet at Occidental College on April 24. Here is a nice photo. And a link to Guitar Boy’s My Space page.
And some info on the Wondercabinet, a mind-boggling, curiosity-inspiring, day-long event exploring modern convergences of art and science:
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On Saturday, April 24, Occidental College will return to the days before science and the arts separated into mutually exclusive domains as writer, critic and intellectual impresario Lawrence Weschler brings his day-long “Wonder Cabinet” to Eagle Rock.
“Intellectually, one of the things I’ve long been interested in is the notion of returning to a time when the sciences were at the heart of the humanities, when there was a marvelous, polymorphous, promiscuous interaction between scientists, artists, wizards and inventors,” says Weschler, a long-time New Yorker staff writer and author of the Pulitzer-nominated Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonders who today is director of the New York Institute for the Humanities at NYU. “The division between arts and sciences is only 300 years old at most. Before that, people like Michelangelo and Leonardo were as much scientists as artists. There was no distinction between the different interests they were pursuing.”
“In fact, with the rise of the Internet and social media we may be returning to an era in which scientists and artists, historians and digital innovators have all kinds of things to say to each other,” he says. “The Wonder Cabinet aims to facilitate that conversation. But it’s also simply a celebration of all things cool.”
Featuring the art films of Jessica Yu, Ed Ruscha, the Center for Land Use Interpretation Boris Hars-Tschachotin; Photographer Lena Herzog; Famed historian, magus, and sleight-of-hand master Ricky Jay; David Wilson, the MacArthur-winning founder of the Museum of Jurassic Technology; Oscar-winning film and sound editor Walter Murch; Cal Tech physicist Ken Libbrecht; Michigan artist Matt Shlian; New York artist Lauren Redniss; Identical twin artists Ryan and Trevor Oakes
Other news: I’m preparing to travel to Yerevan, Armenia, during the month of July to offer a creative writing workshop to women and participate in the WOW Collective’s annual intervention.
I’m gearing up to offer another community writing workshop in Queens, October-December 2010, more details coming soon…
Till Summer…
March 2010
My essay “Waiting for Tables”, about Turkish and Armenian neighbors in Sunnyside, Queens, is in the March 2010 issue of the Brooklyn Rail. Here is the link to read it online: http://www.brooklynrail.org/2010/03/local/waiting-for-tables
As always, Me as her again, my memoir exploring Armenian and queer women’s identity, can be purchased online in many of the usual places, but support Aunt Lute Books, the independent press who published it and many other amazing books by women, by purchasing it directly from them: http://auntlute.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?
Upcoming reading
The Greek-American Writers’ Association and
Gartal, an Armenian Literary Reading Series
present
Nancy Agabian
Nicholas Samaras
Mehmet Uca
Saturday December 19
6-8 pm
Cornelia Street Cafe
between W 4th and Bleecker
West of 6th Ave in Greenwich Village
Subway: ACEBDFV to W 4th St
212 989-9319 for reservations and info
$7 cover includes a drink
Fall 2009 Update
October 17 marks a year since Me as her again came out. If you’ve had a chance to read it, consider writing a review on Amazon. It’s fun and will make you a part of the Armenian literary scene.
So much has happened in the last year; I’ve done readings and given talks to large groups of people about Armenian culture, history and Armenian women’s lives. And this continues, as I prepare to give a reading at an Armenian Writer’s Conference at UCLA, November 6-8.
I’ve recently returned to working on my book on my year in Yerevan. My essay America/Armenia/Angelina, just published by Perigee, an online literary journal, gives a taste of the style and content I’m working with.
And on November 2, I’ll be reading with Our Side, the creative nonfiction workshop on cultural identity that I started last summer. We’re celebrating the launch of our new chapbook, details below.
“Our Side”, a Creative Nonfiction Writing Workshop on Cultural Identity
presents a publication launch reading of their new chapbook
Monday, November 2, 7 pm
Little Theater
LaGuardia Community College Performing Arts Center
31-10 Thomson Ave
Long Island City, NY 11101
Subway: 7 to 33rd/Rawson or EVGR to Queens Plaza
Free Admission
Chapbooks will be available for donations of $5 to $10
During the summer of 2009, thirteen writers of all levels and with roots all over the world came together in Our Side to write about the worlds they live in, past and present. In this ten-week workshop, they helped each other create memoirs, narratives and personal essays which address issues of emigration, dislocation from homeland, assimilation to a new land, maintenance of cultural identity, and transnationalism.
Spearheaded by Our Side member Beatriz Gil (editor/designer), they produced a publication of their work, which they will present for the first time to the public.
Upcoming Workshop Reading
I’m really proud and excited that Our Side is reading. It’s been a privilege to work with everyone in this amazing and talented group. Please come to our reading to hear moving stories and new ideas on cultural identity:
During the summer of 2009, thirteen writers of all levels and with roots all over the world came together in Our Side to write about the worlds they live in, past and present. After ten weeks of reading and discussing the work of contemporary writers, experimenting with writing exercises, and engaging in group feedback, they will read to the public the results of their work. Their memoirs, narratives and personal essays will address issues of emigration, dislocation from homeland, assimilation to a new land, maintenance of cultural identity, and transnationalism.
The free public reading takes place at 1:00pm on Sunday, August 16, 2009, at TOPAZ ARTS, located at 55-03 39th Avenue in Woodside, Queens.
Subway directions: #7 train to 61 St. or the R, V, G trains to Northern Blvd.
Details and directions are available at www.topazarts.org.
Some News
Info on two readings and a summer workshop, below:
May 2
3 pm
“Waiting for Tables” (flier: waitingfortables)
Topaz Arts
55-03 39th Avenue, between 55th and 56th Sts.
Woodside, NY 11377
Subways: 7 to 61st Street, or R to Northern Blvd.
Free admission, refreshments, and q-and-a
http://www.topazarts.org
“Waiting for Tables” is made possible in part with funds from the Decentralization Program, a re-grant program of the New York State Council on the Arts, administered by the Queens Council on the Arts.
May 5
7:00 pm
Lambda Literary Award Finalists reading
LGBT Community Services Center
208 W. 13th Street, between 7th and 8th Aves
New York, NY 10011
Subway: 1,2,3,9 to 14th Street; A,C,E to 14th Street
Free reception at 6:00 pm, before the reading
http://www.lambdaliterary.org/awards/index2.html
I’ll read from “Me as her again”, a finalist for a Lammy award in LGBT Nonfiction. Featuring other finalists, including: Daniel Allen Cox, Bill Konigsberg, Bob Morris, Shawn Stewart, Ruff, Vanda, Meri Weiss, Martin Wilson, Chavisa Woods, Magdalena Zurawski, and others. Hosted by Kathleen Warnock, playwright and curator of the legendary “Drunken Careening Writers” series at KGB bar.
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May 16
Deadline (extended) to apply for “Our Side”. Flier here: our-side-writing-workshop
a creative nonfiction workshop on cultural identity
June 6 — August 15, 10 Saturdays, 10 am — 12:30 pm
Sliding scale ($10 – $200 for the series, that’s $1 – $20 per session) FREE for the unemployed
Topaz Arts
55-03 39th Avenue
Woodside, NY 11377
Subways: 7 to 61st Street, or R to Northern Blvd.
http://www.topazarts.org
Our Side is a new workshop for writers of all levels to write in English about the worlds they live in, past and present. For the first five weeks, we will read work by Amy Tan, Jhumpa Lahiri, Junot Diaz, Edwidge Danticat, and others; then we’ll discuss the issues these writers address on emigration, dislocation from homeland, assimilation to a new land, mainten-ance of cultural identity, and trans-nationalism. These discussions will prompt writing exercises to explore our own experiences with migration and views of cultural identity. For the following four weeks, we’ll read to the group our writing to receive feedback and help polish it into memoirs or personal essays. During the last meeting, we’ll prepare for a reading of our work on August 16.
Our Side is made possible, in part, by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
For info on how to apply and other details, please see flyer: our-side-writing-workshop
Events for April and May
Me as her again is a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Nonfiction!
This is quite an honor as the other finalists in the category include books by Michelle Cliff and Jane Rule. The award will be announced May 28.
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Upcoming readings in San Francisco:
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
5:30-6:30pm
UCSF Parnassus Campus
Room HSW 302
(Health Sciences West)
This program is being co-sponsored by the Staff Subcommittee of
the Chancellors Advisory Committee on LGBT Issues, SWANABAQ
(Southwest Asian/North African Bay Area Queers) & Aunt Lute Books
Attendance credit given toward the UCSF LGBT Wellness Program
Thursday April 9, 2009 With Mahru Elahi
Modern Times Bookstore 888 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94110 7:30 PM FREE ________________________________________________
In New York:
“Waiting for Tables,” a reading of new work
“Waiting for Tables” is an essay-in-progress about the histories of the Armenian and Turkish communities in Sunnyside and Woodside, Queens. This is a first person account about life and death, stories of immigration, and neighborhood diplomacy:
May 2 Topaz Arts 55-03 39th Avenue Woodside, QueensSubway directions: #7-train to 61 St. or the R, V, G trains to Northern Blvd.
Details and directions are available at www.topazarts.org.
The project is made possible in part with funds from the Decentralization Program, a re-grant program of the New York State Council on the Arts, administered by the Queens Council on the Arts.
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This summer, I’ll teach a writing workshop on cultural identity at Topaz Arts: Our Side
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Late breaking news: The Agos Literary Supplement, Kirk, is on women’s books and authors. Melissa Bilal did an interview with me, on page 9. The supplement is in Turkish but a few pages are in Armenian in the back: http://www.agos.com.tr/kirk5/Default.html
Events for January and February
Here are some readings and performances in support of Me as her again: True Stories of an Armenian Daughter, a memoir by Nancy Agabian and published by Aunt Lute Books. Please visit Recent Posts (at the bottom of this page) and other pages for more info on the book and the author.
Thursday, January 13
8pm
Theater Saint Gervais, 5, rue du Temple
Geneva, Switzerland
reservations and info: 022 908 2020
In the frame of the project “Wounded Memories”, the Theatre Saint Gervais Geneva and Utopiana present
Water and Wine
A performance on identity in relation to tradition, composed of narrative excerpts from Me as her again, monologues on the author’s experiences in the Armenian Apostolic church, and self-invented rituals. With the participation of Anne-Shlomit Deonna (in Franch) and Anna Barseghian (in Armenian).
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
12- 1 pm
International Seminar Series
Illinois State University
Bone Student Center’s East Lounge, 3rd Floor.
Normal, IL
For more info: http://www.internationalstudies.ilstu.edu/events/
Contact info: Te-Yu Wang, tywang@ilstu.edu, 309 438-7880; Alison Bailey, baileya@ilstu.edu, (309) 438-8638
“Me As Her Again: Creative Nonfiction on Feminist Armenian Identities and Genocide”
Nancy Agabian will discuss her work as a creative nonfiction writer to explore issues of Armenian identity. In particular, she will describe her recent process of writing “Me as her again: True Stories of an Armenian Daughter”, a memoir of her search for self, which involved researching and imagining her grandmother’s survival of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. The book also braids together the various feminist identities of her family, including her sister, aunts, mother and self; their stories provided a base on which Agabian was able to weave her own story, and thus her identity as a queer, feminist artist.
The Seminar Series is organized by the Unit for International Linkages, Office of International Studies and Programs, and the Women’s Studies Program. Free and open to the public. Free pizza is also provided.
Friday, February 13, 2009
7 pm
reading at
Borders Books
200A N. Greenbriar Dr.
Bloomington, IL
309.888.4246.
Contact: schance@bordersstores.com
Free!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
7 pm
reading at
Sunday Salon
Stain Bar
766 Grand Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
(L to Grand, then walk 1 block West)
Contact: Krista 718/387-7840
http://www.sundaysalon.com
Free!
