FRESNO — Author Katia Tavitian Karaguezian will speak on her new book “Forbidden Homeland: Story of a Diasporan” on Friday, September 8, at 7 p.m., in the University Business Center, Alice Peters Auditorium, on the Fresno State campus. The event is part of the Armenian Studies Program Fall 2023 Lecture Series.
In 1988, a single innocent comment made at her college in southern California led Katia, a new immigrant, to the discovery of long-lost relatives, descendants of her grandmother’s siblings from whom she was separated because of the Genocide. As Katia decided to find answers to questions she had struggled with all her life, she uncovered stunning family secrets that ultimately lead to a decades-long search for something even bigger than her own identity.
“Forbidden Homeland immerses you in centuries of world-shaping history as its written pages become the rich landscape of a deeply personal journey…making you feel a part of it and reaching into your core. … In her riveting odyssey to find the missing pieces of her own identity, Karageuzian takes the reader with her to uncover hidden truths and connect past with present. She masterfully weaves her life’s unexpected twists and turns, layered within stories of Armenian Genocide, Lebanese Civil War, immigration, and current world events, and paints a vivid, living mosaic of the unique and shared experiences of exile and resilience, loss and rebirth, discovering finally that even when forbidden our homeland, if we search, we will find home,” said Ani Hovannisian Kevorkian, who made the documentary, “The Hidden Map.”
Karageuzian (Pharm.D.) was born in Beirut, Lebanon. In 1984, she immigrated to California with her family. In 1992, she received her doctorate in pharmacy from the University of Southern California. She currently practices as a pharmacist specializing in pediatric care. Parallel to her career in pharmacy, when not spending time with family, Karageuzian paints, reads about history and politics, or volunteers with several non-profit organizations. Karageuzian attributes her love of writing and reading to her childhood years growing up in war-torn Lebanon, where she often found refuge in books.
The presentation will also be live-streamed on YouTube at: https://bit.ly/armenianstudiesyoutube.
