Nancy Kricorian’s ‘The Burning Heart of the World’

Author Nancy Kricorian reads from her book “The Burning Heart of the World” at Roeliff Jansen Library on May 8.
Olivia Geiger
Author Nancy Kricorian reads from her book “The Burning Heart of the World” at Roeliff Jansen Library on May 8.
On May 8, Nancy Kricorian discussed and read from her latest book, “The Burning Heart of the World” at Roeliff Jansen Community Library in Hillsdale, New York.
Kricorian was interviewed by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian, the curator of mycology at The New York State Museum and author of “Forest Euphoria: On the Abounding Queerness of Nature,” to be published May 27, 2025.
Kricorian’s latest novel is fourth in a series of books focused on the post-genocide Armenian diaspora experience.
“I am to be a voice for my people,” stated Kricorian who grew up in an Armenian community in Watertown, Massachusetts alongside her grandmother, a genocide survivor.
April 2025 marked the 50th anniversary of the Lebanese Civil War and the 110th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Published in April, Kaishian’s novel tells a story of an Armenian family from Beirut. Across four generations they have lived through the Lebanese Civil War, the Armenian genocide, and the 9/11 attack on New York City.
Of the book, Kricorian stated, “It is about women who struggle to cope and take care of their families in times of mass violence. It is also about the way that these traumas reside in the bodies of those that survive them.”
Sorting through the wreckage of mass violence and existential threats to sovereignty and territorial integrity, these stories provide a homeland to displaced people.
In 2014, Kricorian did an Armenian heritage trip. She expressed an intense feeling when looking at flowers on the side of the road or walking along the bridges, realizing that her grandmother had seen those same flowers and walked those same roads. She felt deeply rooted in place and history — yet also confronted by the reality of uprooting and displacement.
With each section of the book broken down by geographical regions, Kricorian worked to replicate this feeling with immersive and sensory writing that drops the reader amidst the flowers. The use of nature as a literary tool is woven throughout her writing, particularly through the recurring image of birds.
Throughout Armenian folklore, birds are often used as a symbol for the community’s ability to rebuild their nests elsewhere when their homes are destroyed and the flowers are no longer familiar.
The novel begins with a passage from Armenian musicologist Gomidas:
“My heart is like a house in ruins,
the beams in splinters, the pillars shaken.
Wild birds build their nest where my home once was.”
As a part of her research for this novel, Krikorian signed up for an intro to Arabic class. A portion of the class focused on Lebanese food in New York City. The chef who taught the course shared, “I came here like a wounded bird from a burning country.”
Kricorian used that line in her novel. Like a bird, she gathered pieces of insight and information from the dozens of Armenians she interviewed to cultivate this piece of art — a nest of words, experiences, traumas and laughter.
Olivia Geiger is an MFA student at Western Connecticut State Universiry and a lifelong resident of Lakeville.
Breaking ground for the project that will convert the Community Center in Sharon into four affordable apartments are, from left: Richard Baumann, chairman of Sharon Housing Trust, First Selectman Casey Flanagan, Commissioner of Housing Selia Mosquera-Bruno and State Rep. Maria Horn (D-64).
SHARON — The turning of the dirt signaled the hope for four families to find their dream of affordable housing.
A groundbreaking ceremony took place on Sept. 29 at the former Community Center on Gay Street (Route 41) where the Sharon Housing Trust is planning to place four affordable units. Dignitaries, including Commissioner of Housing Selia Mosquera-Bruno, were in attendance, along with many Sharon residents and members of affordable housing organizations from around the region.
Richard Baumann, chairman of the trust, began by explaining the trust already owns three buildings contiguous to the center, each containing two affordable apartments.
“The former owner kept them affordable and we’re building on that,” he said, emphasizing the generosity of so many people. “He sold them to us below market value and then took the mortgage. We still had a shortfall of $100,000 and an anonymous person gave us a bridge loan that we were later able to pay back.” Several times Baumann talked about the remarkable way in which this is all coming together.
The building was the former Masonic temple, which is owned by the town. It has leased it to the trust for 99 years.
“The next remarkable thing was that the town applied for a $1 million grant from the state and didn’t get it,” he said. “We rolled the projects together (rehabbing the center and upgrading the six apartments) and the state doubled our money. We now have $2 million to do them.”
He then introduced Sharon resident Lyden Miller, a world-renowned landscape designer, who will donate her expertise in creating the look of the grounds.
First Selectman Casey Flanagan, looking up at the structure, said it has served the community for nearly 100 years and now will continue to do so in a different form.
“Sharon is a town that values its character, its history and most importantly its people,” he said. “We recognize that for our community to thrive, we must ensure that families, seniors and young professionals can afford to live here. Whether it’s through renovation of existing properties thoughtful development or creative use of town-owned land, we’re committed to solutions that preserve Sharon’s charm while making it more accessible to those who want to call it home.”
He said this project is a creative solution that reflects both fiscal responsibility and compassion.
State Rep. Maria Horn, D-64, said, “I get such pleasure out of the frequency of these groundbreakings.”
Mosquera-Bruno, after some ribbing from Baumann, promised she’d try to expedite the funding.
“Congratulations to this milestone and we thank the governor and legislature for their support of housing,” said Mosquero-Bruno. “The reality is we’re putting more shovels in the ground than ever before.”
Following the ceremony, the annual Housing Summit, sponsored by Litchfield County Center for Housing Opportunity was held next door at Sharon Center School. Affordable housing organizations manned booths on the school grounds, showcasing their projects in great detail.
Those attending the annual Housing Summit in Sharon view the displays of affordable housing organizations around the county. Ruth Epstien
The program then moved indoors where Jocelyn Ayer, director of LCCHO, addressed the crowd and said they are working on 18 projects in 12 towns. Water bottles with the slogan “Put US back in housing” were distributed.
Mosquera-Bruno gave statistics about all the affordable units that have, or are going up, around the state. Nandini Natarnjan, CEO of the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, who works closely with the commissioner, said solutions to housing have to fit the size and scale of the people and towns here.
“Home ownership is a dream for so many,” she said. “Our purpose is not just about giving mortgages, but sustaining civic life. It’s about creating futures for the young and older populations.”
Horn spoke about housing on a personal level, saying “Some people we know and love are getting bounced out of their homes. They are intricate pieces of our community and it’s important to remember them.”
The dialogue than shifted to House Bill 5002with Horn expressing her disappointment that it was vetoed by Gov. Ned Lamont. The bill aimed to implement reforms to make it easier for affordable housing initiatives. Horn and others see this as a setback and she hopes there will be a special session of the legislature to address the matter.
An informal survey on the most engaging display by an affordable housing group and the most informative was held. Norfolk captured the first and Salisbury the second.
The label bearing the hotly disputed “Gulf of America” designation was changed via an order by LaBonne’s Markets to its wholesaler.
SALISBURY — Within a day of Salisbury shoppers complaining about a frozen shrimp label bearing the federally-mandated “Gulf of America” place name, LaBonne’s Markets had already had it changed.
Rob LaBonne III, president of the four-location grocery store chain, said the label alteration had actually been ordered long before complaints began in town.
“As a grocery store, we have to be everything to everybody,” LaBonne said. “We have people from all walks of life and political backgrounds who work for us, shop with us.”
LaBonne explained that although a flood of emails and calls – about 20, he reported — came in on Monday, Sept. 22 to complain about the packaging, the store had actually ordered the label to be changed about a month prior in response to a complaint from a customer at the Prospect location, one of the grocery store’s three other locations in Connecticut.
The concentrated outcry in Salisbury came as the result of Sharon resident and political organizer Jill Drew writing about the shrimp label in her twice-per-week email blast “Today’s Action,” which reaches hundreds of subscribers across the region. The outrage stems from President Trump’s January executive order to rename the body of water, which has been referred to as the Gulf of Mexico for more than 400 years and is not owned by any one nation. Only federal agencies within the U.S. are legally bound to use the title.
LaBonne said that while the response was intense, he called back everyone who reached out and found that they quickly appreciated the misunderstanding.
“Everyone I talked to was like, ‘no, we knew you guys wouldn’t do this,’” he said. “We don’t want to get mixed up with people thinking we’re making a political statement with bagged shrimp,” he added, reiterating that the company had acted on the issue well before the Sept. 22 complaints came in.
He explained that the label, which had actually been on the shelves since June, was not LaBonne’s doing but the result of the distributor following Google Maps’ usage of the title as well as an attempt to indicate that the shrimp were harvested in the U.S. rather than abroad. LaBonne said that the store requested the label change immediately after the complaint at the Prospect location, but that the distributor had to sell through the remaining stock bearing the “Gulf of America” label.
Even so, the day that the complaints came in, the store had the distributor print blank labels to cover the ones still in the aisle. The new labels, which are circulating now, eliminate the “Gulf of America” title and simply say “Product of the USA” to indicate their origin.
Salisbury resident Amy Lake, who was the first to bring the issue to Drew’s attention, said she was surprised to see what she saw as nationalist overreach showing up in LaBonne’s, which is a cherished community business.
Lake said that she was “kind of shaken by what [she] saw as jingoism in the aisle,” and was moved to act. She emphasized that the residential voice, and consumer choice, are the “tools of democracy.”
“It’s an act of courage to speak out as a public citizen and say this doesn’t fly here,” she said, expressing her gratitude for all the other shoppers who made their opinions known.
She also thanked the grocery store for its quick action. “I just have to credit LaBonne’s responsiveness to the community… within 24 hours they had addressed our complaint.”
Drew similarly praised the store’s handling of the issue and lauded its affirmation that “politics doesn’t belong in the grocery aisle,” in her words.
“I appreciate that he personally called members of the community who complained,” said Drew. “We didn’t have an argument; we had a conversation. Our country needs more of these conversations across many issues.”
LaBonne said the personal conversations are what makes LaBonne’s the community store that it is. “I encourage people to either reply or give us a call,” he said.
“We’re happy to hear everybody out. We never turn anyone away, and we want to always be better and make sure people feel comfortable shopping with us.”
Legal Notice
Brevi Properties LLC
Brevi Properties LLC, a domestic LLC, filed with the SSNY on 8/27/2025. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to 16 Peaceable Way Dover Plains, NY 12522. Purpose: Real estate management. Section 203 of the Limited Liability Company Law.
10-09-25
10-16-25
10-23-25
10-30-25
11-06-25
11-13-25
LEGAL NOTICE
PUBLIC HEARING -
AMENIA FIRE DISTRICT#1- 2026 BUDGET
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Proposed Budget of the Amenia Fire District #1 of the Town of Amenia, State of New York will be presented to the Board of Fire Commissioners of the Amenia Fire District, for its consideration.
A PUBLIC HEARING will be held at 7:00 p.m. at the Amenia Firehouse, 36B Mechanic Street, New York 12501, in the Town of Amenia, State of New York on the 21st day of October, 2025.
Pursuant to Town Law 181.3(a), the Board of Fire Commissioners must hold a public hearing on the budget; make the proposed budget available to the public prior to the public hearing, allowing the public to comment on the budget at the public hearing. This public hearing must be held to allow maximum public participation in the hearing.
The purpose of the public hearing is to allow any person to be heard in favor of or against the proposed budget as it is submitted, or for or against any item or items contained in the proposed budget, and hearing all persons interested in the subject concerning the same.
That a copy of the proposed budget is available at the Office of the Town Clerk, Town of Amenia 4988 Route 22 where it may be inspected by any interested person during office hours.
Board of Fire Commissioners
Amenia Fire District #1
Dawn Marie Klingner
District Secretary
10-09-25
Legal Notice
Silent Mind Apparel, LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/09/2025. Office location: Dutchess County, NY. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: P.O. Box 593. Purpose: any lawful act.
10-02-25
10-09-25
10-16-25
10-23-25
10-30-25
11-06-25
NOTICE OF FORMATION OF
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY
NAILED BY ALYSSIA LLC has been formed as a limited liability company (LLC) located in Dutchess County, New York by filing Articles of Organization with the New York Secretary of State (NYSS) on July 15, 2025. Alyssia Morton Beliveau is designated as registered agent for the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. Alyssia Morton Beliveau will be mailed any process against it served to 579 Carpenter Hill Road, Pine Plains, NY 12567. The purpose is to engage in any lawful business practice.
09-25-25
10-02-25
10-09-25
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10-30-25
NOTICE OF
PUBLIC HEARING
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a public hearing will be held before the Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of North East, Dutchess County, New York on Thursday, October 16, 2025 at 6:30 PM or soon thereafter as possible, in the Town Hall, 19 North Maple Avenue, Millerton, New York, on the application of Nancy and Robert Kaplan for a 14 foot reduction in the required front yard and a 6 foot reduction in the required side yard in order to construct a one-family residence at 17 Ridgecrest Lane, tax parcel # 7070-00-723996-0000, in the A5A Zoning District of the Town of North East.
The above application is open for inspection at the Town Hall.
Persons wishing to appear at such hearing may do so in person or by attorney or other representative. Communications in writing relating thereto may be filed with the Board at such hearing. Dated: 9/30/2025.
Edith Greenwood
Chairman,
Zoning Board of Appeals
10-09-25
Notice of Submission of Question to Voters of the Town of Amenia at the next General Election
Notice is hereby given that, pursuant to NYS Education Law §259(1)(13), and in accordance with the provision of the N.Y.S. Election Law, the following question will be submitted to the qualified voters of the Town of Amenia at the General Election to be held on the 4th day of November, 2025:
“Shall the annual contribution of the Town of Amenia for the operating budget of the Amenia Free Library be increased by Twenty Thousand ($20,000) Dollars to the sum of Two Hundred Sixty-Five Thousand ($265,000) Dollars annually?”
Dawn Marie Klingner
Town Clerk,
Town of Amenia
10-09-25
10-16-25
PINE PLAINS
FIRE DISTRICT
NOTICE OF
PUBLIC HEARING ON THE BUDGET
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Proposed Budget of the Pine Plains Fire District of the Town of Pine Plains, State of New York, will be presented to the Board of Fire Commissioners of the Pine Plains Fire District.
A PUBLIC HEARING will be held at 7:15 p.m. at the Pine Plains Fire House, 7 Lake Road, Pine Plains, New York 12567, in the Town of Pine Plains, State of New York on the 21st day of October 2025.
Pursuant to Town Law §105, the Board of Fire Commissioners must hold a public hearing on the budget, make the proposed budget available to the public prior to the public hearing, allow the public to comment on the budget at the public hearing. This public hearing must be held to allow maximum public participation in the hearing.
The purpose of the public hearing is to allow any person to be heard in favor of or against the proposed budget as it is submitted, or for or against any item or items contained in the proposed budget, and hearing all persons interested in the subject concerning same.
That a copy of the proposed budget is available at the Office of the Town Clerk of the Town of Pine Plains at 3284 State Route 199 where it may be inspected by any interested person during office hours.
Dated: September 16, 2025
Board of Fire Commissioners
Pine Plains Fire District
P.O. Box 860
Pine Plains, NY 12567
Heather Lamont Secretary
10-09-25
GARDENER wanted: Large vegetable garden, herb garden, decorative planted beds. Start this fall to prepare for next year. Pine Plains, NY area, private home. References requested. Contact at pineplainsgardener@gmail.com.
Home Health Aide/Certified Nursing Assistant: Northwest Corner, Connecticut. Responsibilities include: visiting patients in their home, assisted living & skilled nursing facility settings to provide personal care assistance. Must be certified with the State of Connecticut. Minimum of 1-2 years’ experience working for a licensed and Medicare Certified Home Health or Hospice agency. Must have reliable transportation. Part-time and full-time positions available. Compensation based on experience. For application, contact Jill Hall at Visiting Nurse & Hospice of Litchfield County, jhall@vnhlc.org.
Kitchen Help Wanted: two years experience preferred. KPG Kitchen and Bar, located in Kent, CT. Please call for interview 860-488-6755.
Northwest Community Bank, Branch Manager: Responsible for generating business & deepening customer relationships, providing excellent customer service, identifying cross training opportunities and personal development. Responsible to adhere to policies, procedures, and ensure operational soundness. Must maintain a civic leadership role in the Lakeville community. Strong communication, sales, and supervisory skills. Previous management experience required. Competitive wages and incentive programs. Please see full job description on our website and apply at www.nwcommunitybank.com. EOE/AA/M/F/D/V.
Hector Pacay Service: House Remodeling, Landscaping, Lawn mowing, Garden mulch, Painting, Gutters, Pruning, Stump Grinding, Chipping, Tree work, Brush removal, Fence, Patio, Carpenter/decks, Masonry. Spring and Fall Cleanup. Commercial & Residential. Fully insured. 845-636-3212.
SNOW PLOWING: Be Ready! Local. Sharon/Millerton/Lakeville area. Call 518-567-8277.
PUBLISHER’S NOTICE: Equal Housing Opportunity. All real estate advertised in this newspaper is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act of 1966 revised March 12, 1989 which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color religion, sex, handicap or familial status or national origin or intention to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination. All residential property advertised in the State of Connecticut General Statutes 46a-64c which prohibit the making, printing or publishing or causing to be made, printed or published any notice, statement or advertisement with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, marital status, age, lawful source of income, familial status, physical or mental disability or an intention to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination.
Salisbury, CT
Moving!!! Garage giveaway: Saturday, October 11, 9 am to 3 pm. Variety of house hold items including lamps, end tables, rug, chest, dog crates. Some tools, some garden supplies. All free! 76 Washinee Heights Road, Salisbury.
Falls Village, CT
Barn Sale-Falls Village, CT: Friday, Saturday, & Sunday-Oct. 10-12 9 AM to 3PM. 8 Kellogg Road, Falls Village. Huge multi-day barn sale! Antique tools, Furniture, Antique & vintage advertising items, Fishing poles, Outdoor furniture, Treadmill, Backhoe for John Deere tractor, Fireplace tools & andirons, Bunk Beds, Hitchcock chairs, Faux bamboo chairs, Inflatable movie screen (brand new). Plus-a recently cleaned-out shed with items from the 1930’s, and we’re still cleaning out the farmhouse! Cash only.
North Canaan, CT
TAG SALE: October 10, 11, and 12 From 11 A.M. to 6 P.M. 119 Granite Avenue Ext., Canaan, CT Corner of Orchard Street and Granite Avenue Ext. Jewelry, Lots of Vintage and New Beads, House Decor, Art and Holiday Cards, Woman’s Ice Skates (size 8), Toys, Housewares, Miscellaneous
Sharon, CT
Estate Sale: Long-time house contents, Collectibles, furniture, garden and barn contents. Fri., Sat. 9-4, Sun. 9-12. 60 Sharon Millerton Road, Sharon.