[Oberlist] Matnashunch

[Anna Barseghian]

>

Utopiana, in collaboration with the Women’s Resource Center in  
Yerevan and the publisher MetisPresses in Geneva, is happy to  
announce the publication of Matnashoonch, an anthology of short texts  
by thirteen women, created in Nancy Agabian’s experimental  
nonfiction workshop (Summer 2007). The multilingual anthology  
contains texts by Nancy Agabian, Lara Aharonian, lusine davtyan, Meri  
Yeranosyan, Laura Tashjian, Byurakn Ishkhanyan, Gohar Khachatryan,  
Talin Suciyan, Nushik Smbatyan and Naira Pirumyan. The book  
presentation will take place at the Utopiana and Women’s Resource  
Center, December 28, at 6pm, Zarubyan 34. Please contact us for more  
information.  http://www.metispresses.ch/uto_matnas.html




















































MētisPresses
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Matnashoonch


CrĂŠdits web: Ambroise Barras (2006)

MētisPresses
Collection utoPISTES
Nancy Agabian (dir.)
Matnashoonch. Genève: MētisPresses, 2007
14x21 cm, 80 pages
ISBN: 2-940357-09-3
prix: 10 € / - CHF
The texts in Matnashoonch are by the members of the women's creative  
nonfiction writing project, which took place in Yerevan during the  
summer of 2007.

In both English and Armenian, including texts in Turkish and French,  
this collection gives readers a glimpse of women's lives and  
creativity in contemporary Armenia. From memories of war to feelings  
about the body, Matnashoonch releases a flood of expression, both  
relatable and incendiary.

Introduction
The texts in this anthology are by the members of the women's  
nonfiction writing project, which was funded by a grant by CEC  
Artslink and sponsored by Utopiana and the Women's Resource Center in  
Yerevan. It took place from May 17th to July 10th, 2007, meeting on  
Tuesday and Thursday nights for two to three hours. Facilitated by  
Nancy Agabian, it included thirteen women who met to discuss women's  
literature in translation, to write, and to give criticism to each  
other. We talked about issues of nonfiction and general ideas on  
creating writing based on our own lives. We discussed issues that  
aren't often spoken openly in Armenian culture, e.g., of women's  
roles within the family and women's sexuality; we spoke of memory and  
the imagination; we defined the difference between witnessing and  
observation, what it means to be an authority, and what the truth  
means. Some of the texts in this volume were created within the  
workshop, from a writing prompt, or during the time the workshop took  
place. Some of these texts were created before the start of the  
workshop, in some cases a few years before, but the writer had never  
sat in a room with a group of people to tell her what they thought.

Our members came from all parts of society, from Yerevan and the  
Diaspora, and this diversity enriched our discussions and thoughts  
and eventually our writing. For example, a session on writing about  
trauma revealed a great divide in the way that Diasporan women and  
local Armenian women think about the way the Armenian Genocide has  
affected our communities. We were helped to speak across this divide,  
and to communicate other experiences, with the help of our  
translator/ interpreter, Christine Bessalian. Though most members  
were multilingual and understood both English and Armenian, not all  
could speak with each other without Christine's help. The workshop  
was experimental in the sense that it took place among multiple  
tongues; this slowed down our conversations, but it also enriched our  
sense of language. The texts in this book appear in English and  
Armenian, French and Turkish. The work of each writer is presented  
first in the language that she wrote in, followed by the translation.

We hope that this text will give readers a glimpse of women's lives  
and creativity in contemporary Armenia, something that is  
particularly necessary right now, as women's roles are changing and  
their voices aren't often heard. ÇRainÈ, the collaborative text in  
the middle of this volume, was created on Thursday, June 21st, 2007,  
when the workshop went out on the streets of Yerevan to write our  
observations. The various approaches, styles and languages (we chose  
not to translate these texts) give a snapshot image of our diversity  
of views at a particular moment in time.

We also hope this book will encourage more women to write their  
stories: one of our earliest assignments was to write for ten minutes  
a day and to report what happened. Most found that ten minutes was  
not enough time, with the result that many chose to write for longer  
sessions, either every day or a few times a week. Some of the texts  
from this book appear online at the Utopiana website. If you wish to  
comment on them, please visit www.utopiana.am and look for Armenian  
Women Writing.

We titled this book Matnashoonch to signal an argent itch in our  
fingers to write our stories.

Nancy Agabian





UTOPIANA
Anna Barseghian,Stefan Kristensen
Quai Capo d'Istria 9,1205 Genève,Suisse
0041(0)22 3209830, 0041(0)79 8249313
Zaroubyan 34, Erevan, ArmĂŠnie
t.00374(10)565026, t.m. 00374(0)93518184





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