Postponed due to COVID-19 precautions. New date coming soon.
Join us for an afternoon of Immigrant stories, capturing two different experiences of people coming from the same part of the world, at our Spring Local Author Salon. Authors Benedicte Grima and Ayesha F. Hamid will be reading from their new books.
Benedicte Grima grew up internationally and bilingual and converted this energy to anthropology and ethnographic pursuits. She studied four Middle Eastern languages, became proficient in Farsi and Pashto, and conducted over 20 years of fieldwork throughout Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan – some as a Fulbright scholar - as well as among refugees and exiles from there in the US as a language and culture interpreter. I have authored my research in The Performance of Emotion Among Paxtun Women (1992), and Secrets From the Field (2004).
The story in “Talk Till The Minutes Run Out: An Immigrant's Tale at 7-Eleven” is entirely taken from reality. Drawn from thousands of hours of interviews, the character Nur Ali represents one slice of Pakistani experience. Aging and homesick, Nur Ali is living in America, seeking asylum. Though exiled from his Swat, Pakistan, homeland and inaccurately labeled as a Taliban sympathizer by the US government, he’s determined to keep his position as family patriarch. So Nur Ali leads and provides for his beloved family clan in Pakistan from half a world away. Using prepaid phone cards and a landline in the inner-city 7-Eleven where he works as night shift manager, Nur Ali manages food, gifts, marriages, births, and deaths, all the events that glue a family together. Culturally accurate, this work of fiction is a page-turning journey that will give you new insight into the lives of immigrants who come to America seeking a better life while still clinging to the culture and traditions of their homeland. Post 9-11 America is not the melting pot many thought it could be. This is the daily reality Nur Ali and his friends live. They are exiled from home and living in yet another hostile country. These immigrants find themselves homeless both at home and abroad. This suspenseful struggle of Nur Ali, his family in Pakistan, and his friends in America, will both entertain and inform you.
Ayesha F. Hamid is an American poet and creative nonfiction writer. Her full-length memoir, The Borderland Between Worlds, is available through Auctus Publishers. Ayesha also has a full-length poetry collection, called Waiting for Resurrection. Ayesha holds an MFA in Creative Writing and MA in Publishing from Rosemont College, as well as an MA in Sociology from Brooklyn College. She is the Editor-in-Chief at The City Key. Aside from writing, Ayesha also loves travel and photography.
"The Borderland Between the Worlds" captures the dual-faceted story of a Pakistani immigrant trying to belong in the United States as well as a classic coming-of-age story. Though her family could have lived comfortably in the upper class of their home country, they set out to build a new life in America. After a few difficult years, Ayesha sets out to live her dreams, facing fears and a variety of challenges along the way.