Kay's Voice

Author, teacher, historian, and yoga expert Dr. Kay Mouradian is one of those people you like to be around--a lot of positive energy, a healthy sense of self. She's previously been a guest author here on PDP.

Now Kay is a film producer, too. She and director Mark Friedman have created My Mother's Voice, a documentary based on Kay's book. I've been eager to see the film ever since I knew Kay was involved in the project.

The book, A Gift in the Sunlight, is a novel based on her mother's experience of the Armenian Genocide, when a million or more Turkish Armenians were expelled from their homes by the Ottoman government. (Wikipedia labels it as "deportation, mass murder.") Young Flora and her sister were the only members of their once-thriving family to survive. Flora eventually made her way to America to marry a man she had only seen in a photograph, Kay's father.

From the looks of the flyer, we'll have an opportunity to learn about these events that many Americans know little about.

6pm, April 7th, Free
at the AGBU Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Center, 2495 E. Washington Blvd at Altadena Drive across from Victory Park. (The entrance on Washington is pictured.)

From Kay's website: "Flora’s voice is that of all the victims and survivors of the Armenian Genocide, a story that must not be forgotten. 'I am my mother’s voice,' says Dr. Mouradian, 'and this is her story.'"

Guest Author: Kay Mouradian and A Gift in the Sunlight

Long-time visitors may remember my brief profile of Kay Mouradian in May of 2010. Besides her current novel she has also written books on yoga and meditation. (Wow! I want the brand new copy!) Please welcome today's Guest Author, Kay Mouradian.

 

I wish I had known more about my mother Flora. She was 18 when she came to America in 1920 to marry my father, a man she knew only from a photograph. Becoming an orphan after losing her family in the Armenian genocide, my mother took a chance that the man in the picture would take care of her and I am a witness to say that he did.
        
When I was a kid growing up in Boston, Mom would tell me stories about her tragic life in Turkey, but those stories went in one ear and out the other. I was too busy trying to be an American kid, like my Irish and Italian friends, so I never really knew what happened to my mother during World War I. All that changed when she nearly died at the age of 83. That’s when I started to read about Ottoman Turkey during the Great War and became overwhelmed with the depth of cruelty inflicted on the Turkish Armenians in 1915. I then learned how that catastrophe had broken my mother’s heart and changed her life forever and I knew her story needed to be told.

There is a saying in the literary community that if you want to know the facts read a newspaper, but if you want to know the truth, read a novel. That statement reverberated in my mind and I decided to tell my mother’s story in a novel. Since most of my writing had been in academia, I spent months scouring through books in the 808.3 section of my South Pasadena library learning about plot and character development, foreshadowing, and point of view. The actual writing was far more difficult, but I had a wonderful critique group who kept me honest.

I’ve often heard writers say that the best part of writing is the research and I also found that to be true. I went into used bookstores canvassing the history and memoir sections. After reading through the table of contents I bought and read every book that said "Constantinople." I went through the book stacks at UCLA and became mesmerized with the "Turkey in World War I" section. Then I read through 10 reels of microfilm from the Library of Congress of dispatches and letters from the U S Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire covering the years from 1913-16 and spent a week at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt library reading the personal papers of the Ambassador, Henry Morgenthau, Sr.

My mother’s story, A Gift in the Sunlight, is now in its second edition and can be purchased through Amazon, Vromans, and my website, agiftinthesunlight.com.

I AM MY MOTHER’S VOICE and her story is being made into a documentary...an Armenian Ann Frank story!

Kay Mouradian

I love writers of all kinds. I love journalists, novelists, humorists, essayists and anyone who works hard to make the words meaningful when they put pen to paper or fingers to keys.

And Kay Mouradian is particularly easy to like, because she's Kay.

This photo of her with a fan at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is typical of her because it shows how intently she listens. Kay was signing her book, A Gift in the Sunlight, An Armenian Story, at the Abril Armenian Book Store booth. A Gift in the Sunlight is Kay's novel based on her mother's experiences in the Armenian Genocide.

I bought my copy, and after Kay signed it for me I stood back to watch as people approached. Some folks were tentative at first. They'd read the signs on the booth: "Remember the Armenian Genocide." Some weren't interested--it was a festival, after all, and controversy isn't festive. But some stopped to ask questions, share experiences or even disagree.

Kay listened. She heard. She answered. She's not interested in confrontation but in bringing the truth to light, and she's comfortable talking about the subject. A retired professor, she's created a presentation she gives (free) to libraries, schools and other organizations to teach them about this historical event that's finally being talked about after nearly a hundred years. If you contact her to speak to your group I know you'll like her. Not just because she's a writer, not just because she's a good listener, but because she's Kay.

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

Here's a photo taken outside Pasadena: an overview of one small section of the gargantuan Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on the UCLA campus.

The fun part: going down the Janss steps. The good-for-me part: going up them.
plunging into the crowd was the insane part.

I went Saturday with my brother and sister-in-law. They had a list of signings to attend, so we ran the gamut of fun/good-for-us/insane several times over. We met Michael Connelly, Kate DiCamillo, Nick McDonnell, Dave Eggers and T.C. Boyle (at the Vroman's booth!). See? There's always a Pasadena connection. Michelle Huneven was there, too. She's the Altadena author whose novel, Blame, was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Had I known, I'd have brought my copy of Blame for her to sign. I was thrilled to stop by the booth of Glendale's Abril Armenian Book Store, buy A Gift in the Sunlight by my friend Kay Mouradian, and have her sign it.

The Festival will host about 400 authors--of all genres and degrees of fame--over the weekend. If you go today you could meet Po Bronson, Elizabeth George, Antwone Fisher, Pico Iyer and/or a local author you already know.

Wear sensible shoes. Have patience with the crowd. And watch out for readers of all ages underfoot.