Description:

Author Meline Toumani will discuss the ideas and issues in her memoir, There Was and There Was Not: A Journey Through Hate and Possibility in Turkey, Armenia and Beyond, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. In the book, Toumani reflects on her personal experiences growing up in the Armenian diaspora and her decision, as an adult, to move to Turkey to attempt to understand the people she was raised to despise. Her talk will touch on historiography, the distorting power of personal history, the diaspora experience, and the limits of reconciliation.

Meline Toumani has written extensively for The New York Times about international politics as well as about classical music; her stories and essays have also appeared in The Nation, Harper's, n+1, and many other publications. As a reporter she has worked in Turkey, Armenia, and Georgia, and has taught journalism in Southern Russia. Her first book, "There Was and There Was Not: A Journey Through Hate and Possibility in Turkey, Armenia, and Beyond," was a finalist for the 2014 National Book Critics Circle Award.

Lunch served.