We recently connected with Meri Tumanyan and have shared our conversation below.

Meri , appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

I’d like to make stories and experiences relevant for people, particularly the younger generation. I want my books to capture the reality of our times and the struggles in our lives, which shape us into the people we become. It is through stories that we learn about compassion and truly connect with people.

Meri , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I was always a writer. I wrote my first poem when I was eight years old, in 1988, after the devastating earthquake in Armenia. Since then, writing has been, and will hopefully remain, a sacred place I retreat to, both to celebrate life and to make sense of the challenges it presents.

I grew up with fairy tales. My mother read to us every night, and though I’m not so fond of the genre as children’s literature, the themes of good vs. evil, darkness vs. light, the injustices heroes/heroines suffered and the optimistic belief that the kind and the virtuous always triumph left a lasting impression on my mind.

When I was in college, I studied English and Comparative Literary Studies at Occidental College then pursued a Master of Arts in English, with an emphasis on Creative Writing. That’s when I started experimenting with different genres of literature, including poetry, short stories, and playwriting. I wrote them all and enjoyed them in different ways for different reasons.

It was motherhood, however, that compelled me to write children’s literature—something I never saw myself doing. My children’s books are inspired by my own children, the illustrations are based on actual photos of them, and these books are used as a time capsule to capture the fond memories of their childhood, while reminding us of our own.

Poetry, however, is my real passion. It is the way I think, the way I feel, the way I experience the world. It is the art form that shapes my reality. The language I use, the words I weave reshape my world, give my life more meaning, help me cope with the ugliness and the injustices that exist. Poetry helps me look within; it is the balm that helps me heal.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The funny thing is, I’ve never thought of myself as an artist or creative–and especially not as a businesswoman. I’m an educator. I’ve been a teacher since I was seven years old. I’d gather all the kids in my neighborhood, create lessons and worksheets, and teach actual classes. I started my teaching career at 22, and even though I ventured into other fields, I always kept a foot in the classroom. However, I always wrote, and my genre was poetry. The harder and darker life got, the more and more I wrote. I had no intention of sharing my work with anyone until COVID and quarantine.

We started exchanging posts, letters, and poetry on social media, and when I received so much positive feedback from readers, that’s when I realized maybe I had something to say, and maybe I had a way of saying it that resonated with people. That’s when my first poetry collection came together. I call Love in the Time of Corona my quarantine baby because that’s when it was conceived. Later came Shadows, my very heavy book on the dark side of love: domestic violence and intimate partner abuse. This past summer, I completed another poetry collection inspired by the World Mythology course I was teaching. It is called Gods & Other Mishaps: The Untold Stories. This is in the process of being published.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Currently, I’m finalizing a manuscript, The Promise of the Pomegranate Tree. This book includes poems and letters that were exchanged on social media during the pandemic. It deals with the themes of isolation, fear, loneliness, but it also touches upon the war that broke out in 2020 between Armenia and Azerbaijan. It is very personal for me and I’m sure it will be for Armenian readers who helplessly watched as our people were massacred when the world was preoccupied with the pandemic.

Once I’m done with The Promise of the Pomegranate Tree, I have two other poetry manuscripts that I will need to revise before publication. On a happier note, my fourth children’s book, The Girl with the Purple Umbrella was just published, so I’m excited about that. It made it on the market just in time for the rainy season—assuming we get some rain this fall.

So I was a member of the Facebook groups Letters in Quarantine and Artists in Quarantine founded by my friend and incredible poet Arthur Kayzakian. It was on these platforms that we wrote and found a way to stay creative and connected. As I mentioned, since my posts were getting so many likes and people were giving me so much positive feedback, I decided to create a new Facebook account, Meri Tumanyan Books. At this time, I already had three books published: Mommy, the Dreamweaver, Daddy’s Waltz, and Love in the Time of Corona. People got to know about the artistic side of me and I quickly got many followers and supporters.

It was in October of 2020 that I decided to create my Instagram account, @mt_musings, where I’d start posting almost daily. This became my creative account where I’d share poetry, prose, aphorisms, and quotes, accompanied by images and later, music. It took a few years to have over 20k followers, but the consistent feedback motivated me to keep writing. This page is like an online journal where I share thoughts, feelings, musings, etc. with the public. I’ve learned that people respond well to honest, genuine words that reveal the vulnerability of the writer.

On all my social platforms, I also post about literary events, upcoming books and poetry readings that also support my writer friends. I keep this page professional, but I post pictures of vacations and beautiful sceneries since a writer writes no matter where we are, and new places inspire new kinds of writing. I’ve also started revealing the writing and bookmaking process with my followers, kind of a behind the scenes look to show how the magic happens. They see the sweat and the tears, the toil and labor involved in bringing a book to life.

I think social media is a great marketing tool, and though I’ve been more focused on writing than marketing, I’ve had my share of success. I’ve been invited to several readings at poetry events, some children’s story hours at Barnes & Noble across the US, I’ve shared my books on Art Day at a local elementary school several years in a row, and I’ve been a part of many Zoom readings that have reached people across the states and sometimes even across the world.

Social media brings the poem and the poet into people’s living rooms. Our ability to post videos of readings also helps bring literature to life. I feel like the unfortunate reality of the pandemic and our isolation during quarantine created a desire for writers, artists, and people in general to connect, and poetry—writing, became our primary outlet. I’m grateful to social media for bringing “the word” back into our lives.

Contact Info:

• Website: meritumanyanbooks.com
• Instagram: @mt_musings
• Facebook: Meri Tumanyan Books and Mt_musings
• Linkedin: Meri Tumanyan
• Twitter: @merilik10
• TikTok: mt_musings