Navigating the Divide

Overview

A genre-bending travelogue by a globe-trotting author, full of informative nuggets and revealing anecdotes that dive deep into the culture and history of every place she visits

Navigating the Divide: Selected Poetry and Prose is a career-spanning, multi-genre collection from the award-winning Asian-American writer and indie lit legend Linda Watanabe McFerrin. In poetry and prose that is sometimes profoundly personal, sometimes astoundingly surreal, this world traveler and devoted literary explorer breaks down walls, bridges, cultures, and genres, delighting and instructing the reader. This rich, multi-faceted collection really does "navigate the divide" between spiritual and physical, between thought and desire, between identity and others.

Reviews

"Her imagination is beautiful … her delicate prose spare, controlled, accurate. She seems to reach a finger into the chest and touch the heart." —Betsy Lerner

"A stunning collection, not only for the range of its preoccupations but for the beauty that courses through these writings. Linda Watanabe McFerrin invites us to ponder, to pay attention, and, above all, to savor life." —Jasmin Darznik, Author of Song of a Captive Bird

"I have loved everything I've ever read by Linda Watanable McFerrin. Her prose and poetry are filled with amazing women, charm, wisdom and light. She is both soulful and precise, eloquent and full of life." —Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird and Hallelujah, Anyway

"This is a beautiful book by a writer who has honed her writing skills and knows precisely how to wield them." —Maureen Wheeler, Co-Founder of Lonely Planet Publications

"Poetry like burnished steel and prose that reads like poetry. The most captivating and rewarding book I've read this year." —Tim Cahill, Author of Jaguars Ripped My Flesh, A Wolverine Is Eating My Leg, and Pass the Butterworms

"Navigating the Divide is a fascinating expression of inner and outer travels." —Jean Shinoda Bolen, MD, author-activist-Jungian analyst; Goddesses in Everywoman, Tao of Psychology

Author Biography

Linda Watanabe McFerrin is a poet, travel writer, and novelist. She is the author of two poetry collections, two novels, a collection of award-winning short stories, and a travel guidebook. Her literary honors include the Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction and various travel writing, poetry, and fiction awards. Her latest novel, Dead Love (Stone Bridge Press, 2009), was a Bram Stoker Award Finalist for Superior Achievement in a Novel. As the founder of Left Coast Writers, Watanabe McFerrin has taught and mentored a long list of writers and is a beloved figure in California's rich, historic literary culture. She has led workshops around the world,  and with ASP author Joanna Biggar, she co-founded the Wanderland Writers series of workshops and anthologies, which they co-edit.