Finishing Line Press, in association with
WordPlace: The Southern Tier Literary Center & The Bundy Museum Presents
The American Gun by Author Jessica Femiani
Book Reading at WordPlace: The Southern Tier Literary Center
With Liyang Dong as "Guest Reader"
Facilitated by J. Barrett Wolf, Poet-in-Residence at the Bundy Museum
Friday, August 9th, 2024 at 7:00 pm
Located at WordPlace: The Southern Tier Literary Center
26 Cedar St., Binghamton, New York 13905
(at the Southwest corner of the Bundy Campus)
Finishing Line Press Announces the Publication of
The American Gun By Jessica Femiani
(Coming, June 21, 2024)
The American Gun is a poem in ten parts that delves into the modern phenomenon of mass shootings in the United States. It’s a narrative account of a young teacher in NYC wrestling with the reality of American gun culture. From the classroom to the subway, The American Gun is a meditation on tragedy and what it means to live in a country where domestic terrorism is a constant threat. The American Gun illuminates what the media cannot: the residuals of monumental loss in the face of an unyielding “democracy,” unable to protect the lives of its citizenry and its children.
Advance Praise:
““Jessica Femiani‘s American Gun confronts gun violence in language that weaves a distinctly American tapestry with verve and tenacity. From the Italian grandfather who hauls cast iron tubs up flights of stairs, to the child looking for a safe place to hide during school shootings, I trust this poem’s steadiness, the solid ground from it rises.””
““Jessica Femiani holds space in her poetry for the people and memories that would otherwise be lost to the cruel conditions that are a reality of being and becoming American. The way her experience of stories about her great-grandfather and grandfather melt into her experience as a teacher in a country rife with mass shootings is achingly honest. The poems are alluring but aren’t afraid to wound you. Her writing is artful yet accessible and absolutely necessary.””
““Jessica Femiani’s American Gun is a brilliant, expansive poem that explores the subject of guns, hatred, and mass shootings in America and the personal toll these horrific events take on our individual and national psyche. She unpacks the statistics to expose this stain on the soul of our country, this shadow over our daily lives.””
Jessica Femiani is the granddaughter of immigrants. Before relocating to Binghamton, New York, to pursue her PhD in English, Jessica taught English in Corona, Queens. Her poems and essays have been published in the Paterson Literary Review, Labor: Studies in Working-Class History, #MeToo, Anch’io, and Mom Egg Review. She lives in Binghamton, New York, and is an adjunct lecturer at SUNY Oneonta.
To purchase The American Gun, please visit
https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/the-american-gun-by-jessica-femiani/
ISBN: 979-8-88838-549-4
FLP (www.finishinglinepress.com) is an award-winning small press publisher based in Georgetown, Kentucky. In addition to the Chapbook Series, it publishes the New Women’s Voices Series and sponsors the Finishing Line Press Open Chapbook Competition.
The Bundy Museum of History & Art
129 Main St. Binghamton, NY 13905