About Liminal, a refugee memoir
Documenting her family’s escape from the ethnic killings of Armenians in Baku, Azerbaijan, Liyah takes us into her childhood perspective of war and violence during her most formative years. Based around journal entries written by her at a young age, she describes learning English in America and her personal experience of how becoming a refugee shaped her. Liyah takes the reader into her most private and personal space along with her struggle with identity, assimilation and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Her loss of innocence, longing for a childhood, and survivor’s guilt is conveyed through her emotional reflection about life after genocide. We meet a child who finds safety in detachment from everything around her and finds peace in the stillness and liminal space of her pending identity as an adolescent. The memoir gives readers a glimpse of life in America and what it means to be a newcomer. On the other side of the American Dream, we learn about the mental health struggles of those arriving from war and violent conflicts and how they are expected to assimilate with little or no support. This memoir captures life’s inability to break the human spirit when a family is imbued with unwavering faith, unconditional gratitude and sheer determination.
Media, Readership and Access
Available Now in Bookstores and Educational Institutions Across Idaho and the U.S.
Liminal: A Refugee Memoir can be found and purchased in bookshops, colleges, and museums across Idaho and the U.S., including Amazon and Barnes & Noble. After the creation of the “Liminal: A Refugee Memoir” teacher’s guide, the book has been integrated into secondary and post-secondary educational institutions, including a General Education course (taught for three years at the College of Southern Idaho). Additionally, it was highlighted at the Idaho Teacher’s Conference and Idaho’s Refugee Conference in February 2022 and 2023, to be included in Junior High and High School public school curricula.
