Upcoming Literary Evenings: Mar 29, Apr 3, Apr 13

We invite you to join us for three upcoming in-person literary events in New York City, the first two of which are part of the Literary Lights series organized by the International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA), the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), and the Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center: Deanna Cachoian-Schanz, translator of Shushan Avagyan’s A Book, Untitled, will be in conversation with Dr. Lisa Gulesserian on March 29, and Aram Mrjoian, editor of the anthology We Are All Armenian: Voices from the Diaspora, will be joined by volume contributors Chris Bohjalian, Nancy Kricorian, Scout Tufankjian, and Hrag Vartanian on April 3.

On April 13, the Zohrab Information Center is hosting a poetry night (քերթուածի գիշեր), featuring experimental and innovative young poets reading from their original works in English and Armenian: Hrayr Varaz (Հրայր Վարազ), Alina Gregorian (Ալինա Գրիգորեան), Aram Ronaldo (Արամ Ռոնալտօ), Jesse Arlen (Ճեսի Արլէն), Lillian Avedian (Լիլիան Աւետեան), Sharisse Zeroonian (Շարիս Ծերունեան).

See below for details of time and place!

Zoom Lecture Series on Medieval Armenian Poetry

Zohrab Info Center director Dr. Jesse S. Arlen will deliver the final two lectures in the St. Nersess Armenian Seminary 2023 Spring Public Lecture Series.

Thursday, March 9th: “Nahapet Kuchak and the Hayren”
Thursday, March 16th: “Sayat Nova and the Ashugh Tradition”

For ZOOM registration, click here. To learn more about the series, click here. To watch the recordings of previous sessions in this series, click here.

Mkrtich Naghash: A Medieval Poet for Our Times

Watch “Mkrtich Naghash: A Medieval Poet for Our Times,” a lecture by Dr. Jesse S. Arlen, to learn about the life and context of Mkrtich Naghash and get a taste of his verse in English and Armenian, to enhance your appreciation for the works of this great 15th century Armenian poet, bishop, and manuscript illuminator before the North American debut tour of The Naghash Ensemble.

Experience the Poetry of Mkrtich Naghash | Lecture & Performances

On Thursday, February 23rd at 7:00pm by ZOOM, Zohrab Information Center director Dr. Jesse Arlen’s lecture series on Medieval Armenian Poetry continues with a lecture devoted to the poetry of 15th-century poet and priest, Mkrtich Naghash.

This lecture coincides with the start of the North American debut tour of The Naghash Ensemble, a musical group that performs the poetry of Mkrtich Naghash in original compositions arranged by John Hodian.

The lecture and performances offer a one-of-a-kind opportunity to delve into the life, context, and works of this little known but very talented and profound poet of the fifteenth century and experience medieval poetry alive today in the twenty-first century.

To register for the lecture, offered through the St. Nersess Armenian Seminary Spring Public Lecture series, visit: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUkd-CuqD0qHtT36Lp4Zb8sodm9jmFR8q3W

For a list of tour dates and to purchase tickets, visit: https://www.naghashensemble.com/tours

On March 11th, the Naghash Ensemble performs at Carnegie Hall in NYC: https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2023/03/11/The-Naghash-Ensemble-of-Armenia-Songs-of-Exile-0730PM

To read an article about the Naghash Ensemble, click here: https://asbarez.com/the-resurrection-of-naghash-and-hovhannes/

Literary Lights: A Reading Series Featuring New Works by Armenian Authors

The Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center along with the International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA), and the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) will host Literary Lights, a monthly reading series in 2023 featuring new works of literature by Armenian authors. Each event—held from February to December in a mixed online and in-person format—will feature a writer, editor or translator reading from their work, followed by a discussion with an interviewer and audience members. Audience members are invited to read along with the series.

FEBRUARYSorry, Bro by Taleen Voskuni

The reading series will begin with a virtual event on Taleen Voskuni’s Sorry, Bro, a queer romantic comedy in which an Armenian-American woman rediscovers her roots and embraces who she really is. Voskuni, an Armenian-American writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area, will be in discussion with JP Der Boghossian, writer, founder of the Queer Armenian Library, and host of This Queer Book Saved My Life. Click here for more information.

MARCH: A Book, Untitled by Shushan Avagyan, translated by Deanna Cachoian-Schanz

In March, we’ll host an in-person event at the Zohrab Information Center in New York on A Book, Untitled by Shushan Avagyan, translated by Deanna Cachoian-Schanz. The book is about an imagined encounter between two early twentieth-century feminist writers, Zabel Yesayan and Shushanik Kurghinian, juxtaposed with a conversation between the author and a friend. Avagyan is a translator, author, and the co-founder of the queer-fem Queering Yerevan Collective in Armenia’s capital. Deanna Cachoian-Schanz is a translator working in the geographies of Armenia, Turkey, and their diasporas, at the intersection of critical, feminist and queer theory, archive and critical race studies. Cachoian-Schanz and Avagyan will engage in conversation with  translator, scholar, and teacher of the Armenian language, Lisa Gulesserian (Cover design by Cinzia D’Emidio).

APRIL: We Are All Armenian edited by Aram Mrjoian

In April, the series will highlight We Are All Armenian: Voices from the Diaspora edited by Aram Mrjoian, with both in-person and virtual events. We Are All Armenian is a groundbreaking collection of personal essays exploring the multilayered realities of life in the Armenian diaspora. Mrjoian, who will moderate both events, is an author, editor-at-large at the Chicago Review of Books, and an associate fiction editor at Guernica. Click here for more information.

MAY: American Wildflowers edited by Susan Barba

In May, we will host Susan Barba, editor of American Wildflowers: A Literary Field Guide. This anthology is filled with classic and contemporary poems and essays inspired by wildflowers—perfect for writers, artists, and botanists alike. Barba is the author of the poetry collections Fair Sun (2017) and geode (2020), and an editor at New York Review Books based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Barba will discuss the anthology with Jesse Arlen, a writer, researcher and Director of the Zohrab Center. Click here for more information.

JUNE: The Book of Redacted Paintings by Arthur Kayzakian

In June, we present Arthur Kayzakian’s The Book of Redacted Paintingserasure-ekphrasis poems about a boy in search of his father’s painting, which may or may not exist. The collection won the inaugural 2021 Black Lawrence Immigrant Writing Series award and was selected as a finalist for the 2021 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry. Kayzakian will also discuss his forthcoming chapbook, My Burning City, which integrates the author’s personal history during the Iranian Revolution, his family’s migration to the United States, and the state of living in America as a displaced, bilingual Iranian-Armenian. Kayzakian is an author, teacher, IALA Poetry Chair and Board Member, and a Contributing Editor at Poetry International.

SEPTEMBER: The Fear of Large and Small Nations by Nancy Agabian

The Fear of Large and Small Nations

The series will resume with an event on Nancy Agabian’s The Fear of Large and Small Nations, a contemporary story of an abusive relationship between a queer couple, set between the Armenian homeland and diaspora. The novel was a finalist for the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. An activist, teacher and IALA Board Member, Agabian is the author of Princess Freak (2000), the first collection of poems and performance texts by a bisexual Armenian-American, and Me as Her Again: True Stories of an Armenian Daughter (2008), finalist for a Lambda Literary Award in LGBT Nonfiction and shortlisted for a William Saroyan International Prize.

OCTOBER: The Institute for Other Intelligences by Mashinka Firunts Hakopian

The reading series will conclude with an event on Mashinka Firunts Hakopian’s The Institute for Other Intelligences, which chronicles the transcription of a symposium at a fictive institute where machine intelligences convene annually for lectures and training on algorithmic justice.  Hakopian is a Yerevan-born, Glendale-based writer, artist, researcher, teacher, IALA Advisory Board Member, and a Contributing Editor for Art Papers and ASAP/J. Click here for more information.

Dr. Jesse Arlen’s Zoom lecture series on Medieval Armenian Poetry Begins Tonight

Tonight at 7:00pm ET by Zoom Zohrab Center director Dr. Jesse Arlen will deliver the first lecture in a two-semester series offered through St. Nersess Armenian Seminary’s Public Lecture Series, entitled, “An Introduction to Medieval Armenian Poetry.”

Part I of this series will consist of six lectures delivered on the following dates: Oct 20, Nov 3, Nov 10, Nov 17, Dec 1, Dec 8.

Register for the Zoom meetings here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUoc-mtqT0jEtV7-sBO9Pp1p21bqCFrJTYR

Series Description

After the invention of the Armenian alphabet in the fifth century, the early centuries of Armenian literature are dominated by prose: theological and philosophical treatises, histories, hagiographies, commentaries, and the like. Nevertheless, the premodern Armenian literary tradition also boasts a vast and dazzling array of poetic texts, which are generally less well known to scholars and novices alike. This two-semester public lecture series will introduce the medieval Armenian poetic tradition, including sharagans, odes, lyrics, laments, poetic prayers, as well as love and wisdom poetry. This vast array of material spanning over ten centuries was composed both in the classical literary idiom as well as a form of the language closer to the vernacular, known as middle Armenian. Attention will also be paid to interchange and contact with neighboring literary and poetic traditions, such as Greek, Persian, and Arabic.

A Literary Evening: Armenian Writers in New York

Join the Zohrab Information Center and the International Armenian Literary Alliance for an in-person literary evening on August 23, 2022 at 7:00 pm ET, to hear Armenian writers read from their short stories, novels, poetry and nonfiction.

Readers include Aida Zilelian, Alan Semerdjian, Garen Torikian, Jesse Arlen, Lola Koundakjian, Nadia Owusu, Nancy Agabian, Nancy Kricorian, and Olivia Katrandjian. A wine and cheese reception will follow. 

At Guild Hall of the Armenian Diocese, 630 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10016

“Artsakh: Angel of Peace” – A Photography Exhibit by Dr. Marina Mchitarian on May 26th at 7:00pm (ET)

On May 26th, 2022, at 7:00pm a photography exhibit entitled “Artsakh: Angel of Peace” will debut at Guild Hall of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church, organized by the Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center, with a wine and cheese reception. Featuring photographs taken before and after the war and highlighting Armenian cultural heritage now under Azerbaijani control, Dr. Mchitarian’s photographs nevertheless offer an inspiring message of hope.

Dr. Marina Mchitarian is an independent researcher and the founding president of “Action for Peace,” an Armenian NGO. After completing her Ph.D. at the crossroad of mathematics and mathematical modeling, she pursued postdoctoral studies in archaeology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) and conducted research in archaeometallurgy at Ghent University (Belgium). 

Fluent in four languages (Armenian, Greek, Russian, and English), she worked for fifteen years for the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. By curating a personal documentary of photographs from three Genocides (Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian), she was drawn into the work of safeguarding cultural heritage. She worked for three years for the Dutch NGO ‘’Walk of Truth’’ (The Hague, The Netherlands), whose mission is to protect cultural legacy in zones of conflict. 

Her documentary photography project “Peace and Photography” featured Artsakh and Turkish-occupied Cyprus, which had exhibit-presentations in New York, London, Thessaloniki, Yerevan, and Shushi (Artsakh). 

Since February 2020, she has worked as an independent researcher investigating religious freedom, religious diplomacy, ecumenism, peace and reconciliation, and the endangered Christians of the Middle East. In August 2020, she registered the NGO ‘’Action for Peace’’ (Human Rights, Humanitarian Aid and Peace-building) in Armenia. Through her NGO, she has conducted documentary photography and oral history projects in Artsakh: “Women of Artsakh: War, Identity and Peace” in September 2020 and “Nostos: The Aftermath of the War” in January 2021. She also collaborates with NYC-based Save Armenian Monuments, which operates under the auspices of the Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America.

Some of Dr. Mchitarian’s previous work may be viewed here:

Memory in Action. From Mush to Artsakh, from the Desert Generations to the Independence Generations

Can Memory Trigger a Genocide Prevention? (Documentary photography project)

Peace and Photography (Documentary photography project)

Hellenes of Armenia (Documentary photography project)