Uncountry: a mythology

Uncountry: a mythology is divided into four histories: "History of Ash," "History of Breath," "History of Hunger," and "History of Future." This naming is perhaps Friedland's first gesture to push us toward the very displacement that is at the center of her narrative. These are not histories of the four natural elements—fire, water, earth, and air—or of certain individuals or families, or certain time periods that we might have expected. The world of this book has its own natural elements, its own histories, geographies, peoples, dreams, and memories. It has its own tradition, its own language.   Yanara Friedland is a German-American writer, translator, and teacher. Her first book Uncountry: A Mythology was the winner of the 2015 Noemi Press Fiction award. Abraq ad Habra: I will Create As I Speak, a digital chapbook, is available from Essay Press. She is the recipient of research grants from the DAAD and Arizona Commission on the Arts, supporting her current book project Groundswell, a