Neema Avashia discusses the first pages of her essay collection and memoir, Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place, the structural power of list-making, the second person, and her twist on the usual advice: write the specific to convey the universal.
Avashia’s first pages can be found here.
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Neema Avashia was born and raised in southern West Virginia to parents who immigrated to the United States from India. She has been a history and Civics teacher in the Boston Public Schools since 2003, and now coaches ethnic studies teachers across the distinct. Her debut memoir, Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place, was a Weatherford Award finalist in nonfiction, a Lambda Literary Award Finalist in lesbian memoir/biography, a New York Public Library Best Book of 2022, and was named the best LGTBQ+ memoir of 2022 by Book Riot.Â
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