By Sean Leviashvili

Author Beth Helms tested her skills as a fiction novelist in her first novel, “Dervishes,” after going from speech writing to crafting short stories. Helms spoke at Northeastern Tuesday to present her book and provide a question-and-answer session for audience members. The event was part of Snell Library’s Meet the Author series.

Presenting to an intimate crowd of about 35 people in Ell Hall, Helms explained the premise for “Dervishes,” which takes place in 1975 Ankara, Turkey. The novel gives insight into the lives of an American diplomat’s wife, named Grace, and her daughter, Canada. Helms said she spent her childhood in communities in Iran, Iraq, Germany and Turkey similar to the one she described.

“Diplomatic communities are odd places,” Helms said. “I lived in Turkey for five years and in these [locations], there is an artificial sense of community.”

After an audience member asked Helms how she prepared “Dervishes,” she said she doesn’t approach writing with a clear strategy and said each experience is different.

But the job is never easy, she said.

“I think so much of writing is craft,” Helms said. “It’s work. You have to try and make things up as realistically as you can.”

Though “Dervishes” is Helms’ first finished novel, her previous fictional works received acclaim. “American Wives,” a series of her short stories, won the 2003 Iowa Short Fiction Award. Helms is currently working on her second novel, but gave few details about it.

Helms’ presentation fell short of an hour, but managed to impress various audience members.

“[The presentation] was great, but shorter than I expected,” said Yan Li, a middler majoring in history. “I do wish I read the novel before, though. I’m interested to see what the gender dimension is.”

Helms addressed the issue of gender after the presentation, saying that the novel focuses mainly on the lives of women, but men play a significant role as well.

“There is a component of gender in the book,” Helms said. “Men are very much at the periphery. It is a world dictated by a patriarchal government. The women [in this book] are where they are because of the men.”

Kadir Ozkan, who is working on his doctorate at Tufts, said he found Helms’ choice of setting for the book to be most intriguing.

“I decided to buy the book because I’m from Afyon,” Ozkan said, referring to an area located in the Aegean region of Turkey. “The name, the cover and the story are all interesting. It’s hard to find books about Turkish culture in Western nations. Recently though, I’m finding that Western societies are trying to incorporate these themes.”

The International Student and Scholar Institute (ISSI), one of the collaborators that brought Helms to Northeastern, further incorporated Turkish culture into the event by providing Turkish food for the audience. The audience sampled dishes like yogurtlu kebab and stuffed grape leaves.

Nikki Nicosia, international advancement and outreach program specialist, and Scott Quint, assistant dean and director of ISSI, provided food from Sultan’s Kitchen, a local Middle-Eastern restaurant, anticipating it to be a hit.

“[Turkish food] has so many different flavors and spices,” Quint said. “It’s good quality, and it’s mainly vegetarian so everyone can enjoy it.”

Helms closed the event by signing copies of her book and answering additional questions posed by audience members.