Navigating the Divide

Navigating the Divide is a career-spanning, multi-genre collection from the award-winning indie literature legend, Linda Watanabe McFerrin. In poetry, essays, and fiction that are often profoundly personal and astoundingly surreal, this world traveler and literary explorer busts walls, erects bridges, and ambiguates genre. This multi-faceted collection sets out to attempt its namesake, to “navigate the divide” – between spiritual and physical, between thought and desire, between individual and collective.

Navigating the Divide is the third volume in ASP’s Legacy Series. This series is devoted to career-spanning collections from writers who meet the following three criteria: The majority of their books have been published by independent presses; they are active in more than one literary genre; and they are consistent and influential champions of the work of other writers, whether through publishing, reviewing, teaching, mentoring, or some combination of these.

On Navigating the Divide

“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

“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

“I have loved everything I’ve ever read by Linda Watanabe 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

“Reading Linda’s work is like being mesmerized by a snake before it swallows you whole.   The words shimmer, creating a dreamscape where the story unfolds and draws you in while strange, sometimes bizarre, encounters play out in minutely described detail.  You ‘emerge’ from her stories rather than ‘finish’ them.   The poems are spare, elegant and evocative, stirring deep emotions even while not ostensibly emotional.  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

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