The writer brings stories from across the Armenian diaspora to the page.
The Burning Heart of the World, by New York-based novelist Nancy Kricorian, is a poignant coming-of-age story set largely in an Armenian community in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War. In spare language, Kricorian evokes the lasting psychological effects of war and displacement as the novel moves from post-9/11 New York to Lebanon to the Ottoman Empire. In the face of violence and exile, the characters are still deeply human, as Kricorian juxtaposes the quotidian — a school crush, a Halloween costume — with the shocking brutality of war and genocide.