The book “My Name is Armen – Outside the Lines (Volume II),” by Fresno State alumna Armen Bacon of Fresno, will be published in November by The Press at California State University, Fresno.
The President’s Office at Fresno State and the College of Arts and Humanities will celebrate the book launch with a public reception and signing on Nov. 9 in the Table Mountain Rancheria Reading Room in the Henry Madden Library.
Bacon made her authorial debut co-writing the memoir “Griefland – An Intimate Portrait of Love, Loss and Unlikely Friendship” (Globe Pequot Press, 2012), a story of two women whose words and astonishing friendship helped them survive the ultimate loss.
Her second book, “My Name is Armen – A Life in Column Inches” (2014, The Press at California State University, Fresno), contained a decade’s worth of the essays on family, friends, love and loss published in The Fresno Bee.
The author says Volume II takes readers outside the margins of everyday life – always circling back, returning home – celebrating the resilience of the human spirit.
Fresno State President Joseph I. Castro and his wife, Mary, said in their foreword for Bacon’s newest book:
“This book provides readers with an authentic voice about life in the Central Valley. Armen cherishes the tales you entrust to her because she believes them to be fragile, powerful and enlightening. They are all as valuable to her as they are to us. She keeps them close to the heart until the moment they are ready to be shared with her audience. Armen touches the core of our humanity by showing us how we are connected across many lines and barriers.”
Bacon was honored as the 2015 Top Dog Distinguished Alumna of Fresno State – the highest honor awarded by the Fresno State Alumni Association. For two decades, she served as administrator of communications and public relations for the Fresno County Office of Education.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and she spent four years honing her writing craft in the acclaimed CSU Summer Arts Program, where she studied memoir, poetic prose, narrative nonfiction and flash fiction. Summer Arts will return to Fresno State for five years beginning in June 2017.
“My Name is Armen – Outside the Lines (Volume II)” will be available through The Press website after Nov. 1. The cost is $20 for paperback.
The mission of The Press is to publish great literature by both emerging and established voices, scholarly books that expand the horizons of human knowledge and other works that promote the rich cultural heritage of California’s Central Valley.
~ By Lisa Maria Boyles, reprinted from FresnoStateNews.com
Related Links:
The College of Arts and Humanities at Fresno State 
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