Bio
Posted by n
(For a curriculum vitae, please scroll beyond the narrative bio.)
This is a website about the work of Nancy Agabian, which includes writing, performing, teaching, and creating and fostering community in order to live in a more free and fair world.
(I know, that last one is pretty lofty, but what can I do? Here is my bio, written in the third person to conform to standards of professional art writing. Now, because this is an ephemeral and too accessible format for putting together and publishing words, I’m having some trouble choosing between first and third person, the personal or the public.)
Nancy Agabian was born in 1968 to Armenian American parents in Walpole, Massachusetts, where she grew up. She later attended Wellesley College, graduating with a studio art major. In 1990, she moved to Los Angeles, where she started writing poetry in Michelle T. Clinton’s multicultural women’s poetry workshop at Beyond Baroque Literary/Art Center in Venice. Over time, she created and performed several one woman shows. Her first book, Princess Freak (Beyond Baroque Books, 2000), a collection of poems and performance art texts, documents her coming of age as a “bisexual Armenian Princess Freak”. For the traditional Armenian community, Princess Freak provided the much needed voice — funny, self-deprecating, and blunt — of a young woman questioning her sexuality and determining her future apart from her parents.
(I don’t know — this sounds self-congratulatory, but I want to express something about the relative worth of this book, at least based on what people have told me. I’m not saying PF is a work of genius or something, just that it helped to serve a particular purpose.)
Also in L.A., Agabian collaborated with Ann Perich as the folk-punk duo Guitar Boy, writing and singing lyrics that skewered pop culture and the art world; in 1999 they released a CD entitled Freaks like me.
(This was a fun period in my life, perhaps the funnest.)
In 1999, Agabian moved to New York to attend Columbia University’s MFA Writing Program, where she became a Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fellow. Her master’s thesis was an early draft of Me as her again: True Stories of an Armenian Daughter (Aunt Lute Books, 2008). The book tells of her quests to L.A., New York and the interior of Turkey to discover a unique identity between her Armenian family history and queer identity, via the stories of her genocide survivor grandmother and her feminist mother who came of age during the conservative 1950s in America.
(This is the best way I know how to describe the book, after eight years of writing, revising, trying to publish, waiting a year, then trying to publish again, and then publishing. Sometimes I just referred to it as “my memoir about my Armenian American family.” Or, that it was “a book about the way my Armenian family influenced my coming of age, particularly the stories of my mother and grandmother.” Not exciting enough, I know. But I often felt that if I could describe the book in three sentences, I would have just written those three sentences rather than a few hundred pages. What does it do to a writer to have to explain what you are writing about, as if it were simple, as if it were some sort of pre-packaged Rice a Roni treat?
I’ve also struggled a long time with how to say that there is this funny element to the book. One of the criticisms of Me as her again might be that I didn’t balance the humor with the hard stuff. I’m not supposed to anticipate criticism for my own book; it probably appears to most potential readers as a bad sign. But what if people like this approach? Then am I inadvertently undermining…oh never mind.)
From 2006-07, Agabian was a Fulbright professor at Yerevan State University in Armenia, where she wrote a blog of essays, onearmenianworld.blogspot.com; she is in the process of transforming it into “The Fear of Large and Small Nations,” a nonfiction novel on the conflicts of culture, capitalism, identity and war as manifest in the lives of Armenian artists. She tri-authored the experimental book (An)daratsutian Mej or In the (Un)Space (Women’s Resource Center, 2007), with writers Shushan Avagyan and Lara Aharonian, also Armenian, during a year that they were all dislocated; each woman wrote on Armenian identity in the language she felt most comfortable with (English, French and Armenian), and in journalistic, personal and critical styles. She led a women’s nonfiction workshop at the Women’s Resource Center in Yerevan (funded by CEC Artslink), which resulted in Matnashoonch (Metis Press, 2007), an anthology in Armenian and English which brings to broader audiences the stories of contemporary Armenian women.
(And I was almost a part of this great project in Yerevan this past summer: http://queeringyerevan.blogspot.com/, a women-oriented women art event with screenings, discussions, and interactive community-based actions. )
Other teaching projects include her artist-in-residency from 1994-99 at Beyond Baroque, leading “Writing and Performing and Telling the Truth” a performance workshop for regular people to tell their most vital, life-changing stories. From 2003 to the present she has been teaching creative writing and creative nonfiction workshops to students at Queens College, in Flushing, New York, the site of the most ethnically diverse population on the planet; there she encourages her students to write from a cultural perspective, and to challenge their own notions of identity and selfhood. She’s currently planning a writing workshop for immigrants and first generation Americans living in Queens to tell their stories of identity shifting, displacement and dealing with difference. Long term plans include dialogues among people from places of conflict, such as Turkey and Armenia, Israel and Palestine, India and Pakistan, etc.
(I like teaching.)
Nancy also coordinates Gartal, an Armenian literary reading series at the Cornelia Street Cafe in Greenwich Village, which brings together diverse Armenian constituencies, from the traditional to the progressive.
(Gartal means “to read” in Armenian.)
Overall, her mission and vision is to give more people the opportunity to consider the stories of Armenians, women, queers, and weirdos (in the most embracing sense of this word) as a new means to understanding our complex world.
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Curriculum Vitae
Education
Columbia University, School of the Arts, Writing Division. M.F.A. in Nonfiction, 2003.
Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA. B.A. in Studio Art, cum laude, 1990.
Teaching Experience
New York University, Gallatin School of Individualized Study
Writing Your Ancestry. Spring 2010, Spring 2009
Our Side: Topaz Arts Center and LaGuardiaPerforming Arts Center
Creative Nonfiction Writing Workshop on Cultural Identity, Fall and
Summer 2009.
CUNY Queens College, Flushing, New York:
Creative Nonfiction. Spring 2010, Fall 2009, Spring 2008, Spring 2006,
Spring 2005, Fall 2004.
Essay Writing. Spring 2009, Fall 2008.
Writing, Literature and Culture. Spring 2009, Fall 2005, Spring 2005,
Spring 2004.
Drama Writing. College Now. Summer 2008.
Dance Writing, College Now. Spring 2008, Fall 2007, Summer 2006,
Spring 2006,
Fall 2005, Summer 2005, Spring 2005, Summer 2004.
College Writing. Spring 2010, Fall 2009, Fall 2008, Fall 2007 Fall 2005, Fall 2004, Fall 2003.
In Fall 2007 and 2009, taught an honors level course on New York City in the
Macaulay Honors College.
Creative Writing. Summer 2006, Summer 2005, Spring 2004.
LaGuardia Community College, Long Island City, New York:
Introduction to Composition II — Writing Through Literature. Fall 2008.
Yerevan, Armenia:
Women’s Creative Writing Project, co-sponsored by CEC Artslink, Utopiana,
and The Women’s Resource Center, Yerevan, Armenia. Summer 2007.
Creative Nonfiction, Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia. Spring 2007, Fall 2006.
Los Angeles, California:
Life Stories, Writers at Work, Silverlake, CA. January – June, 1999.
Writing to Perform the Truth, Beyond Baroque, Venice, CA. 1994-99.
Publications and Presentations
Books
Me as her again: True Stories of an Armenian Daughter. San Francisco, CA: Aunt Lute Books, 2008.
(An)daratsutian Mej (In the [Un]Space). Co-written with Lara Aharonian and Shushan Avagyan.
Yerevan: Women’s Resource Center, 2007.
Princess Freak: Poetry and Performance Texts. Venice, CA: Beyond Baroque Books, 2000.
Anthologies
A selection of thirteen poems. Deviation: Anthology of Contemporary Armenian Literature. Yerevan, Armenia: Inknagir, 2008.
“Memento” and introduction. Matnashoonch: Armenian Women Write. Geneva: Metis Press,
2007.
“Seeing Istanos,” Homelands: Women’s Journeys Across Race, Place and Time, ed. Patricia Tumang and Jenesha De Rivera. San Francisco: Seal Press, 2007.
“More Intimacy.” Gynomite: Fearless Feminist Porn. Ed. Liz Belile. New Orleans, LA: New Mouth from the Dirty South, 2000. 44-49.
Birthmark: A bilingual anthology of Armenian-American poetry. Ed. Gourgen Arzoumanian. Glendale, CA: Open Letter Press, 1999. 132-152.
“Blanket,” “Corrine Got Her Period.” Scream When You Burn: An Anthology from Caffeine Magazine. Ed. Robert Cohen. Incommunicado Press: New York, 1998. 15-18.
“Ghosts and Bags.” Hers 2: Brilliant New Fiction by Lesbian Writers. Ed. Terry Wolverton with Robert Drake, Winchester, MA: Faber & Faber, 1997.
“It doesn’t even feel good,” “The Bank,” “Bumps, Boobs and Breasts.” Muses: 9 Women Writers in Collaboration with 9 Women Artists. Catalogue of an exhibition curated by Betty Ann Brown at the Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA, 1995. 44-46.
“Sick Television.” Blood Whispers II: L.A. Writers on AIDS. Ed. Terry Wolverton. Los Angeles: Silverton Books, 1994. 98-99.
Literary Journals
“America/Armenia/Angelina,” Perigee: Publication for the Arts, Fall 2009, <http://www.perigee-art.com/index-4.php>, 15 Oct 2009.
“100% Armenian Blood: A Theoretical Performance,” Sunday Salon Magazine, Spring 2009, <http://www.sundaysalon.com/category/magazine/non-fiction>, 3 Feb. 2009.
“Soup,” “Holding it in,” “The answer,” “Shut up and unite.” Women in Action zine. Yerevan, Armenia: NPAK, March 2007.
Excerpt from “The Fear of Large and Small Nations,” KGBBarLit, Summer 2006,
<http://www.kgbbar.com/lit/nonfiction>, 24 Apr. 2006.
“American School.” Ararat Vol. XLIV, No. 182, Spring 2006.
“Reality,” “Ode to the Panic Attacks.” Transl. Shushan Avagyan. Bnagir #9, 2004:14-16.
“There is almost too much race color creed to think about.” High Performance: The Verdict and the Violence. Ed. by Wanda Coleman, Summer, 1992: 64-65.
Articles
“Waiting for Tables,” The Brooklyn Rail. March 2010. pp. 3-6.
“Essay on Arlene Voski Avakian,” Forgotten Bread: First Generation Armenian American
Writers. Ed. David Kherdian. Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books, 2007.
One Armenian World. <http://www.onearmenianworld.blogspot.com>, 3 Sept. 2006 – 13 Aug. 2007.
“We Need Each Other:A Report on ‘Water and Wine’, a Performance in Armenia,” Women’s Studies Quarterly, Spring/Summer 2006. Ed. Geraldine Pratt and Victoria Rosner. New York: The Feminist Press of the CUNY Graduate Center, 2006.
“A Conversation with Nancy Agabian”, interview conducted by Shushan Avagyan. Kanayq Hayots, Vol 1, No 2. Yerevan, Armenia: Kanayq Hayots NGO, Yerevan State University, September 2005: 34-36.
“An Interview with Beast on the Moon’s Larry Moss and David Grillo.” Groong. <http://www.groong.com/tcc/tcc-20050411.html> , 11 Apr. 2005.
“One Mermaid’s Story.” Wellesley Magazine, Summer 2000: 35-38.
Recent Readings and Talks
Presentation of “Waiting for Tables”. Arts in the One World. Brown University, Providence, RI. 19 Mar 2010.
Reading and discussion from Me as her again on the influence of the family on Armenian Writers. Conference on Armenian Writers. UCLA, Los Angeles, CA. 6 Nov. 2009.
Lambda Literary Awards Finalists’ reading. LGBT Community Center, New York, NY. 5 May 2009.
“Waiting for Tables”. Work-in-progress reading. Topaz Arts, Woodside, NY. 2 May 2009.
“Author’s Series,” with poet Gregory Djanikian, Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, NJ. Sponsored by the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Center and the Creative Writing Department. 22 April 2009.
Reading from Me as her again. With Mahru Elahi. Modern Times bookstore, San Francisco, CA. 9 Apr 2009.
Reading from Me as her again. University of California San Francisco. 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.
8 Apr 2009.
“Creative Nonfiction on Feminist Armenian Identities and Genocide”, International Seminar Series, Illinois State University, Normal, IL. 11 Feb. 2009.
“Water and Wine”, a performance with Anne-Shlomit Deonna, Theatre St. Gervais, Geneva, Switzerland. 13 Jan. 2009.
Presentation of Me as her again. Abril Books, Glendale, CA. 13 Oct. 2008.
Reading from Me as her again. Monday Night Nonfiction Series. KGB Bar, New York, NY.
7 Oct. 2008.
Presentation of Matnashoonch. Finding Language: Armenian Women Writing Across Translation. CUNY Graduate Center, NYC. 19 Feb. 2008.
Various poems. Armenian Contemporary Poetry Reading, The Village Quill, New York City. 5 Oct. 2007.
“Excerpt from ‘The Fear of Large and Small Nations.’” Writing Aloud, New York Writers
Coalition, Prince George Tea Room, New York City. 7 Apr. 2006.
Reading Series
Gartal
Coordinator. Armenian-American writers, Cornelia Street Café. December 2002-present.
Night Café
Coordinator. MFA students, Columbia University Writing Division. Sept. 2000-May 2001.
Awards
Lambda Literary Award finalist in LGBT Nonfiction, for Me as her again, 2008.
New York State Council on the Arts, re-grant program, administered by the Queens Council on the Arts. Individual Artist’s Grant, 2009.
Queens Council on the Arts Individual Artist Initiative, 2008.
CEC Artslink Grant
Funding for a women’s creative writing workshop in Armenia; Summer 2007.
Fulbright Award
A teaching/research fellowship to Armenia, 2006-07.
Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fellowship
Full scholarship and stipend to attend Columbia University MFA Writing program, 2000-2003.
Columbia University Writing Division Fellowship, 1999-2000 and 2000-2001.
2 Responses to “Bio”
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Sarah O. Green Says:
October 4th, 2008 at 11:56 pmWhat a treat to read your bio. It’s like a little visit. Thank you for including the first person – a great balance. Can’t wait to read your book. Have fun at your readings, etc.
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Amie Klujian Says:
November 12th, 2008 at 3:26 amHi Nancy- Love the bio and look forward to reading your book. Any chance you’re coming Chicago for a reading…perhaps Women and Children First Bookstore? I think it would be wonderful to try to get you on their calendar. Have you been there or heard of them before?
