Cocktails & Poetry: Celebrating Tenny Arlen’s To Say with Passion: Why Am I Here?

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Join the Zohrab Center and Next Gen Leaders of the Eastern Diocese (@nextgeneasterndiocese) for an evening of cocktails, conversation, and poetry as we explore the powerful words and legacy of Tenny Arlen (1991–2015) and her groundbreaking collection, To Say with Passion: Why Am I Here?

Born in California, Tenny Arlen began learning Western Armenian at UCLA at the age of 20 and went on to become the first American-born author to publish a full-length creative literary work in the language. Though her life was tragically cut short in 2015 in a car accident, her voice continues to inspire readers through her posthumously published work, celebrated by Armenian literary circles around the world.

Now in a facing-page bilingual (Armenian and English) edition with a foreword by Jesse Arlen and afterwords by Arthur Ipek (NYU / Zohrab Center) and Hagop Gulludjian (UCLA), this profound poetry is now accessible to all readers, regardless of the level of their Armenian knowledge.

Come experience an intimate night centered on language, identity, creativity, and the enduring impact of Armenian literature. Books will be available for purchase at the event.

Location: Park View Lounge (Youth Center at St. Vartan Cathedral)
Day: Thursday, June 11
Time: 7:00 PM
Advance Registration Required ($10): REGISTER AT THIS LINK

International Conference on Evagrius of Pontus at SNAS (June 4–6)

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An international conference on Evagrius of Pontus—a philosopher, theologian, desert ascetic, spiritual writer, and intellectual of the fourth century, who had a significant impact on the curriculum, spirituality, and intellectual culture of medieval Armenian monasteries—is to be held at St. Nersess Armenian Seminary from June 4th–6th.

The conference, organized by SNAS professors Dr. Roberta Ervine and Dr. Ani Shahinian, is co-sponsored by St. Vladimir’s Seminary, and brings together most of the leading scholars working on Evagrius and his reception in the various languages of the medieval Christian world (Greek, Coptic, Latin, Syriac, Armenian, Arabic, etc.)

The Armenian reception of Evagrius is notable because Armenian manuscripts, along with Syriac, preserve works of Evagrius that were otherwise suppressed and lost in the original Greek, due to Evagrius’ embroilment in the “Origenist” theological controversies of the sixth century AD.

The hybrid conference may be followed by registering at this Zoom link.

Recent talks by Dr. Jesse Arlen (recordings & photos)

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Two recordings of recent public talks by Dr. Jesse Arlen are now available to view along with a gallery of photos.

On Sunday, April 26th Dr. Arlen delivered remarks at the annual commemoration of the Armenian Genocide in Times Square on the theme “Creating Culture in Diaspora,” where he reflected on the past and present of the Armenian American community and imagined a new future, with allusions to diasporas from Armenia’s medieval past. A recording of his remarks are below and a recording of the full event is available here.

On April 9th, Dr. Arlen spoke at the NAASR headquarters in Belmont, MA on the life and significance of his late sister Tenny Arlen’s poetry, whose posthumous volume, To Say with Passion: Why Am I Here? (Կիրքով ըսելու՝ ինչո՞ւ հոս եմ) is the first full-length volume of creative literature published in the Armenian language by an American-born author.

On April 12th, Dr. Arlen gave a similar presentation at St. Mary Armenian Church in Washington, DC. A gallery of select photos from the event is available to view below while the full collection of photos is accessible here.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Jesse Arlen’s Poem featured in Academy of American Poets “Poem-a-Day” Series

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Jesse Arlen’s bilingual poem “𓆭 [Tree]” was featured as today’s “Poem-a-Day” by the Academy of American Poets.

The poem is part of a collaboration between the AAP and Raffi Joe Wartanian, spotlighting poets writing and translating from Western Armenian. Wartanian, poet laureate of Glendale, California, received a 2025 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship.

Read the poem in English and Western Armenian on the Academy of American Poets website (poets.org). There you can also listen to Jesse Arlen reading the poem in English and Armenian.

About this Poem

“This poem is from my forthcoming bilingual book of poetry, entitled Մեհենագիրք / Book of Hieroglyphs, which narrates the birth and maturation of a poet from an all-but-extinct civilization and literary tradition. Each poem in the book follows a letter of the Armenian alphabet and an Egyptian hieroglyph, whose symbolic meaning generates the poem. This poem, after the hieroglyph 𓆭, ‘Ծառ / Tree’ is the first in the fourth and final cycle of the book, entitled ‘Անհատը զարմէն / The Individual from the Clan,’ where the subject matter turns to the ancestors of the poet in the land from which they were exiled.” – Jesse Arlen

Lectures by Dr. Jesse Arlen at Harvard & NAASR (hybrid)

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Zohrab Center director Dr. Jesse Arlen will deliver talks today and tomorrow at Harvard University and NAASR. Both are open to the public and the NAASR presentation on Thursday is a hybrid event with the option to Zoom (see registration link below).

“Heresy and Excommunication in Tenth-Century Armenia: Hierarchs, Abbots, Monks, and Tondrakites.”

Wednesday, April 8th, 4:30pm at Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, Room 304, 6 Divinity Ave, Cambridge, MA.
Co-sponsored by the Harvard University Mashtots Chair of Armenian Studies, the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, the Center for the Study of World Religions, and the Committee on Medieval Studies.

An Evening of Poetry with Dr. Jesse Arlen:
Tenny Arlen’s To Say with Passion: Why Am I Here?

Thursday, April 9th, 7:30pm at NAASR Vartan Gregorian Building, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA.
Co-sponsored by the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) and The Belmont Public Library
Zoom Registration Link: https://bit.ly/4soKyhn
NAASR YouTube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/c/ArmenianStudies 

Study Armenian in Venice this Summer! (with Jesse Arlen)

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The Padus-Araxes Association has opened the application for their renowned Summer Intensive Course of Armenian Language and Culture, which will take place August 3rd–August 19th, 2026 for the 41st time in Venice, Italy. Zohrab director Dr. Jesse Arlen will be among the faculty of teachers this summer.

The course offers four levels, from complete beginners to advanced courses in Armenian linguistics, literature, performing arts, history, and other special topics. Alongside the courses are offered optional lessons in Armenian dance and duduk, in addition to presentations on special topics of interest, evening concerts, and sightseeing tours in Venice.

Classes are held on the beautiful grounds of the seminary of the Patriarchate of Venice, in collaboration with the Patriarchate’s “Studium Generale Marcianum” Foundation.

Participants will also have the opportunity to participate in the Armenian Divine Liturgy at the Armenian Church of the Holy Cross in Venice and participate in the liturgy and receive a private tour of the Mekhitarist Congregation at the monastery of San Lazzaro.

 

Don’t miss the unforgettable experience of studying Armenian in the beautiful and historic city of Venice!

Inquire for more info or visit the association’s website here.

Participants and Teachers at the 2025 summer course

Upcoming Talks by Dr. Jesse Arlen in Boston & Washington, DC (including hybrid online)

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In early April, Zohrab Center director Dr. Jesse Arlen will travel to the Boston area then Washington, DC to give the following three talks, at Harvard University, NAASR, and St. Mary Armenian Church. All of the talks are open to the public. The NAASR event is a hybrid event (see registration link below for online Zoom option).

“Heresy and Excommunication in Tenth-Century Armenia: Hierarchs, Abbots, Monks, and Tondrakites.”

Wednesday, April 8th, 4:30pm at Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, Room 304, 6 Divinity Ave, Cambridge, MA.
Co-sponsored by the Harvard University Mashtots Chair of Armenian Studies, the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, the Center for the Study of World Religions, and the Committee on Medieval Studies.

An Evening of Poetry with Dr. Jesse Arlen:
Tenny Arlen’s To Say with Passion: Why Am I Here?

Thursday, April 9th, 7:30pm at NAASR Vartan Gregorian Building, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA.
Co-sponsored by the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) and The Belmont Public Library
Zoom Registration Link: https://bit.ly/4soKyhn
NAASR YouTube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/c/ArmenianStudies 

Creating Culture in Diaspora:
The Poetry of Tenny Arlen (1991–2015)

Sunday, April 12th, after Badarak at St. Mary Armenian Church, 4125 Fessenden St. NW, Washington, DC.

Manuscripts, scrolls, photographs and other archival treasures from the Zohrab Center special collections

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On Tuesday, March 24th, at 6:30pm, in collaboration with the NextGen Leaders of the Eastern Diocese, the Zohrab Center will open its doors for an in-person viewing of manuscripts, scrolls, photographs, and other treasures from the Zohrab Center special collections.

Guests will have the opportunity to view the Center’s collections throughout the evening while enjoying drinks, small bites, and conversation upstairs in Srpazan’s Tahlidj (Grand Hall).

Note: This is a ticketed event.

Reserve your spot here.

Dr. Jesse Arlen & Fr. Samuel Rith-Najarian on Solitude and Silence

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On Tuesday, March 3rd, Dr. Jesse Arlen and Fr. Samuel Rith-Najarian were in conversation together on the spiritual disciplines of solitude and silence. Drawing on the life and teachings of Jesus and the wisdom of the church fathers and monastic tradition, the talk explored how the intentional pursuit of solitude and silence were fundamental practices of our Lord and his disciples. The talk concluded with practical discussion of how to pursue these spiritual practices in the modern world and what importance, potential, and power they hold for Christians today.

The recording of the talk may be accessed on the Vemkar YouTube channel:

The talk was part 3 in a six-part series offered through Vemkar entitled “Ancient Paths, Living Wisdom: How to Incorporate the Spiritual Disciplines in our Everyday Life.”

Previous talks in the series were given on Feb. 17th by Fr. Hovnan Demirjian on the topic “Fasting from the Things that Consume Us.”

And on Feb. 24th, Fr. Yeprem Kelegian spoke on “Charity and Service.”

In upcoming weeks, Bishop Mesrop Parsamyan will speak on the topic of Meditation (March 10th), Dn. Hovannes Khosdeghian will speak on the practice of “Lectio Divina (Spiritual Reading)” (March 16th), and the series will conclude on March 24th with a talk by Dr. Jesse Arlen on the practice of gratitude.

If you have not yet signed up for the series, you may register here for the Zoom meetings, taking place Tuesdays at Noon ET.

REMINDER: TONIGHT! Poetry Workshop with Live Music with Lola Koundakjian, Jesse Arlen, Raffi Joe Wartanian, & Alexander Sasha Hakobyan

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Tonight the Zohrab Center is hosting a poetry workshop with Quarter Tone Poets, an initiative directed by poet Raffi Wartanian dedicated to innovative literary expression in Western Armenian and exploring the musicality of language and the linguistic possibilities discovered through music.

On Tuesday, March 3rd, at 7:00pm in the newly renovated Park View Room at the Diocesan Center, New York poet Lola Koundakjian will engage in a conversation on the craft of writing poetry with Zohrab Center director Dr. Jesse Arlen and then participants will have a chance to write their own original poetry, guided by prompts while live music is being performed by Raffi Wartanian (oud) and Alexander Sasha Hakobyan (guitar).

Don’t miss this one-of-a kind event!

For more info on this initiative, visit https://www.quartertonepoets.org/workshops