Shameless Stories: Introducing Anamot Press

The Sun Isn't Out Long Enough is an anthology about queer experiences across borders, and other stories told with no shame. Out on Aug 15th, it's the first publication from the brave and exciting Anamot Press.

Its editor, Tatevik Sargsyan, tells us about the book and the new imprint:

Anamot (Անամոթ) means shameless in Armenian. Shame (Ամոթ) is probably one of the most frequently uttered words in Armenian culture, as so many of our desires and experiences are labelled, blamed and shamed. Of course, these experiences are felt universally, beyond borders. Shame itself is a paradoxical affect surfacing at borderlands. I started Anamot Press in order to publish queer experiences and other stories across borders, with no shame. I’m so excited to share the anthology which brings 20 writers across disciplines and borders in dialogue with each other.

The Sun Isn’t Out Long Enough is Anamot Press’ first publication. This anthology explores a range of themes spanning queerness and language, belonging and loss, the embodiment of ancestral grief, liminal love and diasporic desires. Including J.P Der Boghossian’s personal essay which reflects on queerness and language inhabiting the spaces in between identities. Noor Hindi’s poems are a necessary meditation on belonging, loss and diaspora attachments. Taylor Johnson’s poems explores detachment and communion from a Black trans perspective, linking poetry, privacy and property. Diana Khoi Nguyen’s poems visualise absence, space and sound, exploring layered losses of migration, displacement and death.

This book has been put together during the global pandemic. A time of chronic and viral infections. A time of nurturing local solidarity and affection. At times steeped in sunshine and at other times shamed in the shadows. Hours are measured in absence, our days filled with compounding contradictions to endure. I hope people read this anthology with care, paying close attention and forming a connection with the experiences and stories that the writers have shared with no shame.

The publication of Anamot Press’ first anthology has been supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

You can pre-order The Sun Isn't Out Long Enough below, where you'll also find a list of other wonderfully shameless stories recommended by Tatevik!