Brave New Collection Honors Women's Spirit Worldwide
"No Ocean Here" bears moving accounts of women and girls in certain developing and underdeveloped countries. The book raises concern, and chronicles the socio-cultural conditions of women in parts of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The stories, either based on personal interviews or inspired by true stories, are factual, visceral, haunting, and bold narratives, presented in the form of poems.
"Sweta Srivastava Vikram is no ordinary poet. The 44 poems in this slim volume carry the weight of unspeakable horrors and injustices against women. Sweta's words span the globe. Her spare and evocative phrases weave a dark tapestry of oppressive conventions that in the telling and in our reading and hearing, she helps to unravel."
-- Kay Chernush, Founder/Director, ArtWorks for Freedom
About the Author
Sweta Srivastava Vikram is an award-winning writer, two times Pushcart Prize nominated-poet, novelist, author, essayist, columnist, and educator whose musings have translated into four chapbooks of poetry, two collaborative collections of poetry, a novel, and a non-fiction book of prose and poems. Her work has appeared in several anthologies, literary journals, and online publications across six countries in three continents. A graduate of Columbia University, she reads her work, teaches creative writing workshops, and gives talks at universities and schools across the globe. Sweta lives in New York City with her husband.
Available in hardcover, paperback, and eBook editions
Learn more at www.SwetaVikram.com
From the World Voices Series at Modern History Press www.ModernHistoryPress.com
POE005060 Poetry: American - Asian American
SOC028000 Social Science: Women's Studies - General
FAM001000 Family & Relationships: Abuse - General

Fear is the driving component to either move you forward or to stop you in your tracks. The choice is always yours; you can turn around and run away or you can move toward that which you fear. Failure is an option; fear is not. When you turn from the wall of fear and go back to your comfort zone, life still goes on, but you miss out on everything that is on the other side of the wall-all the opportunities that may come from going through the wall and struggling past your fear.

Fear is not an indicator that you are doing the wrong things, that you don't have talent, education, or that you are in the wrong place. Many times in life you can be on the right path, pursuing your dreams, but you are scared to death.

The best way to understand male sexual abuse is to learn about its survivors. They are the victims, and they have stories to tell.Author O'Brien Dennis recounts how he was sexually abused as a boy in Jamaica, and he also shares accounts from other men who were abused. By giving them a voice, he unveils how male sexual abuse can so easily happen at the hands of close and trusted family, friends and even strangers.As you read these intimate stories, you'll learn how society's narrow definitions of sexuality and masculinity have conspired to silence male victims, preventing many from speaking up about their abuse. Sexual abuse hurts victims, who may later suffer from drug addiction, sexual dysfunction, self-blame, guilt, and other problems. Male rape is used not only as a form of subjugation but also as a tool for war and dominance in contemporary wars and conflicts.Male sexual abuse is underreported, and it is estimated that one in six boys is sexually abused before he reaches age sixteen. By "Understanding Male Sexual Abuse, " it's possible to start exploring solutions to a terrible problem."Dennis calls on policy makers and public administrators to raise their heads from their sheaves of paper and to pay attention to the many men who are victims of rape in prisons or other institutions, and to see that male sexual abuse is more than a public health hazard; rather, it rips at the fabric of society and humanity."-Antoine B. Craigwell, journalist