Nirvana Is Here
by Aaron Hamburger

“Like everything Hamburger writes, NIRVANA IS HERE is compulsively readable, charming, and suffused with deep humanity.  The title is truth in advertising, folks: this novel is nirvana indeed.”– Elisa Albert, author, After Birth

“A tender self-reckoning, Nirvana Is Here brings the past full circle. Hamburger deftly reveals how incidents recede—even if they leave their mark—to bring new hopes into focus.” —Foreword Reviews

“Nirvana is Here is a beautiful, sad, coming-of-age story that is a heartily welcome addition to the LGBTQ literature pantheon.” —I Like to Read

“In language that’s both understated and visceral, Hamburger skillfully distills those moments when his characters experience crucial identity shifts, not just in wild, foreign encounters but more often while eating, bathing, and tending to the animal needs of love and safety that link us all.” –Booklist

For Ari Silverman, the past has never really passed. After 20 years, the trauma from a childhood assault resurfaces as he grapples with the fate of his ex-husband, a colleague accused of sexually harassing a student. To gain perspective, Ari arranges to reconnect with his high school crush, Justin Jackson, a bold step which forces him to reflect on their relationship in the segregated suburbs of Detroit during the 1990s and the secrets they still share.

An honest story about recovery and coping with both past and present, framed by the meteoric rise and fall of the band Nirvana and the wide-reaching scope of the #metoo movement, NIRVANA IS HERE (ISBN: 978-1-941110-77-5; Trade Paper; 386 pages; May 14, 2019; $16.00), explores issues of identity, race, sex, and family with both poignancy and unexpected humor. Deftly told intertwining stories with rich, real characters are reminiscent of the sensuality and haunting nostalgia of André Aciman’s Call Me by Your Name blended with the raw emotion of Kurt Cobain’s lyrics.  Written by award-winning writer Aaron Hamburger, Nirvana Is Here is “a wonder of a book,” according to acclaimed novelist Lauren Grodstein (Our Short History). “As a Jewish Gen-Xer, the novel reminded me exactly of who I once was—and all that I still want to be. A brilliant accomplishment.”

Meet author Aaron Hamburger

2019 Tour Dates (pdf)

Nirvana Is Here Complete Press Kit (pdf)

Book Club Discussion Guide (pdf)

NIRVANA IS HERE: A Novel, by Aaron Hamburger; Trade Paper; 390 pages; ISBN: 978-1-941110-77-5; $16.00; May 14, 2019


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High Praise for NIRVANA IS HERE

“Quite simply, this is a coming of age story but it is also so much more; it is a story of recovery and dealing with both past and present as set against the band Nirvana. . . . Hamburger beautifully captures the decade of the 90s and his characters who come of age then.” Reviews by Amos Lassen

“If your idea of Heaven is sitting down with a beautifully written book full of complex, compelling characters, then get ready….Nirvana Is Here! This is a drop-everything, stay-up-way-too-late, unputdownable novel written by an amazingly talented author. Funny, sexy, wise, and thought-provoking, Nirvana Is Here is a book that has it all, speaks to our times, and is an absolutely necessary read.” —Lesléa Newman, author, October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard and Heather Has Two Mommies

“Like everything Hamburger writes, Nirvana Is Here is compulsively readable, charming, and suffused with deep humanity.  The title is truth in advertising, folks: this novel is nirvana indeed.” —Elisa Albert, author, After Birth

“With rich, real characters and an evocative sense of time and place, Aaron Hamburger movingly explores the ways our pasts accompany us into our future lives. Nirvana Is Here is tender, wise and deeply affecting.” —Tova Mirvis, author, The Book of Separation

“Aaron Hamburger’s Nirvana Is Here is a wonder of a book, often funny, sometimes heartbreaking, and always enormously honest about what it means to be young and in love. As a Jewish Gen-Xer, the novel reminded me exactly of who I once was–and all that I still want to be. Nirvana Is Here is a brilliant accomplishment.” —Lauren Grodstein, author, Our Short History

“A yearning, generous, coming-of-age journey. Captures both a decade, and those scary, vital moments we reveal who we are, inside. Aaron Hamburger’s prose is alive: what’s here is funny, painful, heartbreaking. If you miss (or missed) the 1990s, read this book – Nirvana Is Here.” —Brando Skyhorse, author, The Madonnas of Echo Park and Take This Man

“A touching, finely wrought portrait of secrets lying like buried ordinance beneath ordinary lives. The delicacy and observational wit of Aaron Hamburger’s prose are a marvel.” —Louis Bayard, author, Courting Mr. Lincoln


 

About Author Aaron Hamburger

AARON HAMBURGER is the author of a story collection titled The View from Stalin’s Head (Random House), winner of the Rome Prize by the American Academy of Arts and Letters and nominee for a Violet Quill Award. His second book, the novel Faith for Beginners (Random House), was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, O, the Oprah Magazine, Details, The Village Voice, Poets & Writers, Tin House, Out, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Forward, and numerous other publications. In addition, he has also won fellowships from Yaddo, Djerassi, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and the Edward F. Albee Foundation as well as first prize in the Dornstein Contest for Young Jewish Writers. He has taught creative writing at Columbia University, the George Washington University, New York University, Brooklyn College, and the Stonecoast MFA Program. He currently resides in Washington, D.C.

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