This Country: Searching For Home In (Very) Rural America

Description:

A gorgeously illustrated debut graphic memoir about belonging, identity, and making a home in the remote American West, by New Yorker cartoonist Navied Madhavian.

Before Navied Mahdavian moved from San Francisco in November 2016 to an off-grid cabin rural Idaho, one of the most remote and wild areas of the American West, he had never fished, gardened, hiked, hunted, or lived in a snowy place. But there, he could own land and start a family - the millennial dream. Over the course of the next three years, he leaned into the wonders of the natural landscape and found himself adjusting to and enjoying a slower pace of living. But beyond the boundaries of his six acres, he was confronted with the realities of America's political shifts and forced to confront the question: Do I belong here?

Funny, deeply perceptive, and attentive to the dynamics of culture, environment, and identity in America, Mahdavian's gorgeously self-illustrated and often hilariously written graphic memoir charts his growth and struggles as an artist, citizen, and new father. It celebrates his love of place and honors the relationships he makes in rural America, even as it articulates the difficult moments of racism and brutality he found there as a Middle Eastern American. With wit and compassion, Mahdavian's insider perspective offers a unique portrait of a place many people hear or know nothing about.

Author Biography: Location: Salt Lake City, Utah Navied Mahdavian has been a contributing cartoonist at the New Yorker since 2018. His work has also been published in Reader's Digest, Wired, and Alta Online and the books The Rejection Collection and Send Help! Before becoming a cartoonist, he taught the fifth grade, where he learned most of his jokes. Mahdavian was born in Miami and lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.