Coming Up Queer and Indian: A Conversation with Neema Avashia

Join us for a special meet and greet, book signing, and youth-led discussion with Neema Avashia for her recent book, Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place.

About Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place

When Neema Avashia tells people where she’s from, their response is nearly always a disbelieving “There are Indian people in West Virginia?” A queer Asian American teacher and writer, Avashia fits few Appalachian stereotypes. But the lessons she learned in childhood about race and class, gender and sexuality continue to inform the way she moves through the world today: how she loves, how she teaches, how she advocates, how she struggles.

Another Appalachia examines both the roots and the resonance of Avashia’s identity as a queer desi Appalachian woman, while encouraging readers to envision more complex versions of both Appalachia and the nation as a whole. With lyric and narrative explorations of foodways, religion, sports, standards of beauty, social media, gun culture, and more, Another Appalachia mixes nostalgia and humor, sadness and sweetness, personal reflection and universal questions.

2023 Lambda Literary Award Finalist, Lesbian Memoir/Biography
Named the BEST LGBTQ+ MEMOIR of 2022 by Book Riot
Named a New York Public Library Best Book of 2022
Weatherford Award finalist, nonfiction

This event will feature:

• A special meet & greet with Neema Avashia!
• Author Q&A discussion led by 826 Boston youth
• Readings from Another Appalachia
• Book purchasing and signing opportunities
• Info on how to volunteer with 826 Boston

Free public event. Refreshments will be provided.

Reserve your spot today to be entered into a raffle for a FREE autographed copy of Another Appalachia. Email [email protected] for more information or special accommodations.

About The Author

Neema Avashia was born and raised in southern West Virginia to parents who immigrated to the United States. She has been a middle school teacher in the Boston Public Schools since 2003. Her essays have appeared in the Bitter Southerner, Catapult, Kenyon Review Online, and elsewhere. Her memoir, Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place, was published by West Virginia University Press in 2022.

About 826 Boston

826 Boston is a nonprofit writing, tutoring, and publishing organization where students in grades K-12 and beyond can share their stories, amplify their voices, and develop as leaders in school and in life. Learn more at 826boston.org.

This event is sponsored by The Boston Foundation's Equality Fund and Asian Community Fund.

Host or Publisher 826 Boston