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PNBA Award Winner: Naseem Rakha, The Examiner, January 21, 2010
The Awards Committee was made up of nine volunteer booksellers from independent bookstores located thoughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska.
The Crying Tree Wins NW Bookselller Award, January 21, 2010
From my launch at Powell’s City of Books in Portland, to my visit with a group at the women’s correctional facility in Wilsonville, OR, I’ve been thrilled to see the enthusiasm this story evokes.
Corvallis Gazette, January, 21 2010 The Crying Tree Author visits Corvallis
"I wanted to understand what execution looks like through a victim's eyes as
well as the eyes of people who have to perform it," Rakha said.
Forgiving the Unforgivable - September 29, 2009
‘She has to forgive the man who killed her son, or she’ll die. She’ll just die from her own hate. By David Jasper / The Bend Bulletin
MUSIC AND THE CRYING TREE: Guest Blog on Author Exposure
Before I knew much about the characters in or the plot of my novel The Crying Tree, I knew how the book would end. I don’t mean the end as a specific scene, but rather the end as a feeling. In other words, I knew what emotions I wanted my readers to have as they closed the final pages of my novel, and those emotions were precisely the ones I would experience each and every time I’d listen to Aaron Copland’s masterpiece, Appalachian Spring. (more....)
THE BIRTH OF A NOVEL - Guest Blog
FORD: When you decided to write a novel, did you find your background in journalism helpful, or was the transition to fiction difficult?
RAKHA: First off, I was not a print journalist – I was in broadcast, and more specifically, I was a broadcast journalist for public radio. There is a big difference between writing for the radio, and writing for a newspaper, and much of that lies in the word story. (more...)
LOVE, HATE, FORGIVENESS AND MUSIC
LitPark's Susan Henderson interviews Naseem about the issues that make The Crying Tree a very personal read.
Batavia bound author examines hate, forgiveness in debut novel
By Susan J. Conrad Daily News Correspondent
Saturday, July 25, 2009
FEATURED SPEAKER TO TALK ABOUT HER BOOK AT CHAUTUAQUA
Naseem Rakha has been coming to Chautauqua for almost twenty years and participated in writing workshops for several sessions....more
SILVERTON AUTHOR EXPLORES FORGIVENESS
July 14, 2009 Salem, Oregon Statesmen Journal
"The Crying Tree, Naseem Rakha's first novel, tells the story of a mother whose teenage son was murdered...But the book is not so much about death, but surviving the death of a loved one." more...
SEEKING SOME ANSWERS: SILVERTON AUTHOR TACKLES TOUGH TOPIC
July 2009 Silverton/Mt. Angel Our Town
Is it possible to forgive the unforgivable?
That question led to another and another, prompting Naseem Rakha of Silverton to seek some answers. more
LITERARY INQUIRIES FROM THIRD PLACE BOOKS
July, 2009 issue of Third Place Books News
"Switching from jouranlism to fiction was not as hard as one might think, Ms. Rakha notes. In both, my goal was the same: to tell a story that makes people stop, think and feel something they may not have otherwise." more
July, 2009
Why this topic for a debut novel? The former broadcast journalist explained, "In 1996, I was assigned to cover Oregon’s first execution in over thirty years. At the time I had never given much thought to the death penalty and what it would take for the state to plan out, prepare, and then kill a man. After the assignment, I wanted to learn more so I began to interview death row inmates, the people they had harmed, and the men and women we entrust to carry out our nation’s most severe sentence. During that time I heard many stories, some of them abhorrent some heartbreaking, but by far the most compelling were those told by the people that had come to terms with the murder of a loved one, and no longer felt it necessary to seek retribution. This arc, from the most desperate kind of anguish to reconciliation and even love stunned me, and compelled me to write The Crying Tree. more
ACCLAIMED AUTHOR COMES TO BATAVIA, NEW YORK
May 30, 2009, Daily News
...Caldwell says the novel -- which the store's Storyslingers book club will read as its July selection -- will appeal to readers "not only because it is a good, well-written story, but also because the subject is one that touches on themes of death and forgiveness that are universally relevant" more