THE SHAWL | A Busboys and Poets Book Presentation
Date and Time
Oct 2, 2023 6:00 pm
Location
Brookland
625 Monroe St NE, Washington, District of Columbia, 20017
Oct 2, 2023 6:00 pm
Brookland
All the women in Nafeesa's family have been imprisoned, assassinated, scarred or exiled. Is it any wonder, then, that the surviving men in her family have kept those disturbing facts from her? But now Nafeesa wants to know the truth. With the help of her beloved grandfather, Kulraj Singh, she receives clues to her past, and pledges to bring his two daughters back to him before he dies. From Pakistan, Nafeesa travels, first to Mumbai--where she meets her lesbian activist aunt Faisah and her partner--and then to Kashmir. She's on a journey to adulthood--to learn who she is, who her people are and what she is made of. She and her heroic auntie travel the foothills of the Himalayas through a war zone, under a deadline, through snow lion country, where she questions if this auntie is heroic after all.
The Shawl of Midnight explores the depths of family relationships, how people change over time and distance, how we might discover through our own pressures and actions what we are made of, and where home truly is. It is a coming-of-age story, a family saga, and a hero’s journey set in a world between worlds. Politically, Kashmir is land contested by Pakistan and India; yet the birds know no boundaries, the mountains seem to have been arising forever from nothing at all, and the “Line of Control” is both real and metaphorical. The novel is a standalone sequel to St. Joan’s My Sisters Made of Light, which ended 20 years earlier, with Nafeesa’s birth.
Jacqueline St. Joan is joining us on the Busboys stage to share his experiences investigating police violence and accountability in New Orleans. Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event, and Fishman will be signing following the program.
This event is free and open to all. Our program begins at 6:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of THE SHAWL will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is IN PERSON and will NOT be livestreamed.
We ask that guests RSVP in order to receive direct updates about the event from Busboys and Poets Books
Jacqueline St. Joan has worked as a lawyer, Denver County Judge, child advocate, domestic violence activist, co-editor of an anthology: Beyond Portia: Women, Law, and Literature in the U.S., and founder of a feminist press. She was Director of Clinical Programs at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and adjunct at Metropolitan University in Denver in Women’s Studies. Such life experiences inform her poetry collection, What Remains (Turkey Buzzard Press), and her award-winning essays and stories. In the 1990s, she met a Pakistani teacher who helped rescue women from honor killings, a meeting that led to extensive travel in Pakistan, enduring friendships, research and personal investigation, lobbying, political activism and fundraising. Her first novel, My Sisters Made of Light, and this sequel, The Shawl of Midnight, developed out of those experiences. Visit her website for more: www.jacquelinestjoan.com.
