Recent books by and about the Goucher community

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Farida Benlyazid and Moroccan Cinema

By Dean John Blackford Van Meter Professor of French Transnational Studies Florence Martin
(Palgrave Macmillan)

This book analyzes the work of director, producer, and scriptwriter Farida Benlyazid, whose career extends from the beginning of cinema in independent Morocco to the present. This study of her career provides perspective on an under-represented cinema, the gender politics of cinema in Morocco, and the contribution of Arab women directors to global cinema and a gendered understanding of Muslim ethics and aesthetics in film. A pioneer in Moroccan cinema, Benlyazid has a long view of Morocco’s politics of self-representation as well as the representation of Moroccan women on screen.

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Bernardine’s Shanghai Salon: The Story of the Doyenne of Old China

By Susan Blumberg-Kason ’92
(Post Hill Press)

Meet the Jewish salon host in 1930s Shanghai who brought together Chinese people and expats around the arts. Bernardine Szold Fritz arrived in Shanghai in 1929 to marry her fourth husband. Yet from the night of their wedding, Bernardine’s husband did not live up to his promises. Instead of leaving Shanghai, Bernardine decided to make a place for herself. As civil war brewed and World War II soon followed, Bernardine’s devotion to the arts and the people of Shanghai brought joy to the city just before it would change forever.

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The Odyssey of a Wandering Mind: The Strange Tale of Sara Mayfield, Author

By Jennifer Horne
(University of Alabama Press)

A portrait of a brilliant but troubled daughter of the Old South who struggled against the conventions of gender, class, family, and, ultimately, sanity yet survived to define a creative life of her own. Sara Mayfield 1928 was born into Alabama’s governing elite in 1905. After winning a Goucher College short story contest judged by H. L. Mencken, Mayfield became friends with Mencken and his circle. Author Jennifer Horne draws on the vast archive Mayfield left behind to render her success in surviving to define the terms of her story.

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Slow Time

By Literary Studies Professor Antje Rauwerda
(Spuyten Duyvil Publishing)

Em’s dog walks in Govans, a Baltimore city neighborhood, bring her into contact with Danny, a neighborhood resident who cannot resolve his history, especially the hidden parts of his past. Their friendship crosses racial lines in a city in which red-lined geography has historically reinforced a divide. Nature is the force that makes their paths cross, and reconciles the long past with the present, the traumatically lost with what can be brought to a state of peace, and this specific location with the diverse human lives that inhabit it.

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Mani Semilla Finds Her Quetzal Voice

By Anna Lapera ’08
(Levine Querido)

Life sucks when you’re 12. And what sucks even more than being a Chinese-Filipino-American-Guatemalan who can’t speak any ancestral language? Answer: when almost every girl in school has already gotten her period except for you. Manuela Semilla wants two things: To get her period, and to thwart her mom’s plan of taking her to Guatemala. One day, she finds secret letters between her mom and her Tía Beatriz. What will Mani learn about herself along the way? And how can the letters help her to stand up against harassment at school?

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Aguas/Waters

By Miguel Avero, translated by Jona Colson ’01
(Washington Writers’ Publishing House)

Aguas/Waters introduces the rich and vibrant imagery of Uruguayan poet Miguel Avero to the English-speaking world. Selected works from two of his early collections highlight the legacy of magical realism and rioplatense rhythms in this prolific poet’s fierce style. This first bilingual edition matches each original Spanish poem with an inspired translation by Washington, DC, poet Jona Colson. Aguas/Waters is the premier selection in the Biennial WWPH Translation Series.

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Empty and Me: A Tale of Friendship and Loss

By Azam Mahdavi, translated by Parisa Saranj, M.F.A. ’14
(Lee & Low Books)

In this bilingual Persian-English picture book, a little girl learns to live with the gentle giant that embodies her grief. After a young girl’s mother dies, Empty appears and silently takes up the big blank space left behind. For some time, Empty is her closest companion. But then, a happy reminder of her mom pops up, and this bit of joy helps the girl open up to the world around her. Originally published in Iran, this book provides a gentle starting point for discussing death and grief with young readers.

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Our Names Do Not Appear: A Memoir

By Judy Lev, M.F.A. ’01
(Lioness Books)

When childhood grief is silenced, mourning goes underground and may last a lifetime. In this hybrid memoir Judy Lev blends memories, facts, retrieved documents, letters real and imagined, short fiction, and personal essays to grieve the loss of her baby brother Joey in 1951, when Lev was five. Our Names Do Not Appear explores the long-term effects of family silence, as Lev ponders who else died on the day she learned of Joey’s death. Lev celebrates the use of imagination in the redemptive trek through the chaotic landscape of loss.

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Reflections: My Journey on Arunah

By Rosearl Julian West ’73
(Independently Published)

Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt once stated, “If life were predictable, it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.” For Baltimore’s award-winning radio news reporter Rosearl Julian West, these words unequivocally hold true. Her memoir chronicles her life growing up in a corner rowhome on the city’s west side. This book reveals the humorous, heartwarming, and harrowing experiences of her youth as they occurred during gentle and turbulent times. Reflections is written through the lens of local culture, history, and politics as well as national and world events.

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Oral Satisfaction: A Dentist’s Guide on What To Prepare Your Loved Ones After Oral Surgery With Tips on Their Care

By Judy Yu ’93
(Liferich)

Dr. Yu was inspired to write this book because she found herself constantly emailing recipes to friends and colleagues after their loved ones had oral surgery. She knew there was a need for this type of cookbook, a cookbook that offers delicious recipes for those that cannot chew due to some impairment or ailment to their oral cavity.

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Responding to the Opioid Epidemic: A Guide for Public Health Practitioners

By William F. Wieczorek, Ph.D., and Martha W. Waller ’92, Ph.D.
(APHA Press, an imprint of the American Public Health Association)

It’s impossible to completely prevent the substance misuse defining the opioid epidemic, and it’s impossible to treat the problem away. This reality requires a continuum of care (COC) approach, which includes promotion, prevention, case-finding, treatment, and recovery. This book presents research-informed interventions aligned with the COC approach to guide how communities, first responders, lay persons, medical providers, policymakers, treatment providers, and others can respond to the opioid epidemic at an individual, community, state, and national level.