A Name Unbroken: The Archive and the Body

"Hard to categorize but even harder to put down. Dreamlike...with each element intriguing and beautifully rendered. The soaring writing, dreamy organization, and thematic clarity create a book whose substance far outpaces its brevity." -Kirkus Reviews

This hybrid literary novella braids the story of Susannah North Martin-hanged in 1692 during the Salem witch trials-with the contemporary memoir-in-verse of her descendant as he confronts the long aftermath of religious condemnation and queer erasure.

Follow the serving of Susannah's warrant, her examination, imprisonment, and execution. In intimate, lyrical first-person, her voice is restored, a voice that history tried to silence: a woman who refuses to confess, bow, or surrender her truth-even at the gallows. Interwoven is the perspective of Joseph Ring, a war-haunted neighbor whose fear and fractured memory help fuel the rising hysteria, revealing how private trauma can harden into public accusation.

Parallel chapters trace the modern narrator's experience of being misnamed and judged-outed by rumor, scrutinized by institutions, and shaped by the same moral currents that once condemned his ancestor. These stories expose how fear travels through generations, how communities create scapegoats, and how a single refusal-to falsify oneself-can become an act of survival.

Donald Proffit is a multidisciplinary artist and former arts educator who was shortlisted for the 2024 William Saroyan International Writing Prize in nonfiction for his memoir Hardship Alaska (Epicenter Press, 2023). His work spans music, dance, and visual arts, and he has led workshops and presented original performances internationally, including in Israel, where his interdisciplinary work fostered dialogue among Israeli, Palestinian, and American youth. His honors include a John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Teacher Fellowship and the D. Bennett Mazur Award for Lifetime Achievement from the New Jersey Lesbian and Gay Coalition, recognizing his bravery and lifelong contributions to social change.