Calling all Armenian creatives in London! 🇬🇧✨ If you’re interested in literature and art, we would love to hear from you! Comment below, DM, or email us at [email protected]

🚨 REMINDER! Applications for IALA’s Creative Writing Grant close Sept. 30th! 🚨 IALA will award $2,500 annually to one Armenian writer whose work-in-progress in fiction shows exceptional literary and creative ability. 📚✨ Don't wait! Apply here: bit.ly/3IBhIJp

Want to learn more about IALA member Celeste Snowber's new book, "Creating in Dangerous Times," and why people are calling it "evocative, timely, and timeless?" Check out this feature in Armenian Weekly! 💬 📚 Read it here: bit.ly/4pCavtm

🚨 REMINDER! IALA’s Israelyan English Translation Grant closes Sept. 30! $3,000 will be awarded to one translator working from a contemporary English source text into Eastern Armenian. Apply now: bit.ly/3KgKdwz

Missed the chance to join us for Literary Lights 2025 featuring Aram Mrjoian last weekend? We've got you covered! You can now watch the full recording of the event on our Youtube channel. 🎬 Watch it here 👉 bit.ly/46ztwnw

🚨 REMINDER: Applications for IALA’s Israelyan Western Armenian Translation Grant close Sept. 30th! One translator will receive $3,000 for a work-in-progress bringing Western Armenian literature into English, plus promotional support. Apply here: bit.ly/4nz0xqQ

💭 Ever wonder what it takes to turn family myths + generational grief into a novel? Join us TOMORROW at Literary Lights 2025, where Aram Mrjoian will discuss his debut book, Waterline, with writer Chris McCormick. Don’t miss this convo! 🌊 Register: bit.ly/3V190Hb

🚨 REMINDER: Applications for IALA’s Israelyan Eastern Armenian Translation Grant close Sept. 30th! ✨ One translator will receive $3,000 for a work-in-progress bringing Eastern Armenian literature into English, plus promotional support. Apply here: bit.ly/47OVEp0

💌 A Week in Berlin by @angelinadennington.bsky.social follows Badrig Serdzovian, a survivor of the Armenian Genocide who flees to France to rebuild his life. But memories of love and loss refuse to stay buried. Learn more: bit.ly/46IEsAw

🌊 Loss, memory & survival echo across generations. This Saturday, Sept 20th, #LiteraryLights2025 features Aram Mrjoian in convo with Chris McCormick on his searing debut Waterline. Don’t miss it. 📚✨ Register 👉 bit.ly/3V190Hb

Congratulations to IALA 2024 Creative Writing Grant recipient and mentee @loriyeg.bsky.social for being named a 2025 Best of the Net Finalist for her creative nonfiction piece, "The Emperor's Dentist." 🦷 📖 Read it here: bit.ly/41NBSqi

Turn art into poetry at ARTful Conversations! 🖼️✍️ Join art historian Valerie Taylor & IALA member and poet Tina Demirdjian tomorrow, Sept 9, at 6 PM at Brand Library & Art Center for a poetry workshop inspired by the art exhibition, Brand 53. Learn more: bit.ly/42ckGuA

From post-9/11 NY to Lebanon to the Ottoman Empire, @nancykric.bsky.social’s The Burning Heart of the World explores the lasting scars of war & displacement. 🔥📚 Read her interview with Olivia Katrandjian in the @wirobooks.bsky.social: bit.ly/4lZSfHf

Time’s ticking, writers & translators! ⏳ Don’t miss your shot at up to $3,000 with IALA’s 2025 grants! From original writing to powerful translations, this is your chance to amplify Armenian stories and voices worldwide. Check out this feature in Armenian Weekly to learn more: bit.ly/46za2j9

Congrats to IALA members @robertarjoyan.bsky.social and Shushanik Karapetyan on being shortlisted for the 2025 William Saroyan Prize for Short Story for their respective stories, "Starving Lions Will Eat Anything" and "He and She." 👏 🏆 Read their stories here: evnbookfest.com/saroyan

📚✨ IALA’s Literary Lights 2025 reading series returns! Join us on September 20th for a free virtual event with Aram Mrjoian, editor and author of the powerful debut novel Waterline, in conversation with award-winning writer Chris McCormick. Register here: bit.ly/3V190Hb

📢 Applications for our 2025 grants are open! Whether you're a writer or translator passionate about Armenian literature, IALA's grants offer up to $3,000 in support plus promotional opportunities to share your work with the world. Apply by September 30, 2025: armenianliterary.org/grants

🎥✨ New episode alert! In the American University of Armenia Media Lab’s Focus Series, IALA advisory board members Shushan Avagyan and Peter Balakian sit down for a rich conversation on Armenia, writing, translation, and the power of art in times of crisis. Watch here 👉 bit.ly/4600IEt

Coming soon: Remain in Light: Visions of Homeland and Diaspora, a collection of photos & poems that illuminate Armenian life in the homeland & LA. Featuring work by IALA members Tina Demirdjian, Armine Iknadossian, Arthur Kayzakian, Shahe Mankerian & @raffijoe.bsky.social! Preorder: bit.ly/45WlbKg

"“Refugee” somehow implies that you no longer have dreams." In her powerful new piece for @rowayat.bsky.social, IALA 2023 mentee Lusine Vanyan reflects on the physical and emotional toll of the 2023 Artsakh blockade and the displacement endured by her fellow Armenians. Read it here: bit.ly/3UNsNJZ

⏰ Tomorrow: Join us for IALA Off the Clock: our virtual members meet & greet event! Sign up here 👉 bit.ly/47it0fG 📅 Sunday, Aug 24 🕙 10 AM PT | 1 PM ET | 9 PM AMT

☀️ From Yerevan to LA to NYC—what a summer it’s been for IALA! Our chapters came together to celebrate literature, community, and creativity across three cities. Thank you to everyone who joined us and our hosts AHA Collective, Lusanet Collective, and @wordbookstores.bsky.social! ✨

⏰ This Sunday! Join IALA Off the Clock—our annual virtual meet & greet. Connect with community members worldwide, share your work & hear what’s ahead. Register here: bit.ly/47it0fG

It’s never easy living in the shadow of a famous cousin. In an essay in the Armenian Mirror-Spectator, IALA member Christopher Atamian explores how poet Archie Minasian navigated his connection to William Saroyan. 💬 Read it here: bit.ly/3VgQv1j

📚✨ @timesnownews.com.web.brid.gy lists 12 Historical Fiction Books That Turn Forgotten Tragedies Into Masterpieces—featuring IALA advisory board member @alineohanesian.bsky.social’s "Orhan’s Inheritance" at #10, a powerful story of love, memory & the Armenian Genocide. Read more 👉 bit.ly/4fIxnTA

Check out IALA board member Shahé Mankerian's new poem, "The Hangman," published in Issue 10 of @bicoastalreview.bsky.social ! 📓 Read the full poem here: bit.ly/3Hzqd7i P.S. You can also hear an audio recording of Shahé reading his poem at the above link! 🎙️

Just 10 days until our event, IALA Off the Clock! ⏰ On August 24th, get the chance to connect with your fellow IALA members and share your next project! You'll also hear about what IALA has in store for the future and give us your input on our past programming. 💬 Register here: bit.ly/47it0fG

🎙️ In this moving episode of Stories From the Stage, IALA board member Aida Zilelian shares the deeply personal story of carrying the emotional weight of her stepmother’s death—while shielding her ailing father from the pain. Watch here: bit.ly/3JgcrqF

In this essay, published in @yesmagazine.org.web.brid.gy, IALA advisory board member @nancykric.bsky.social reflects on the war in Gaza’s impact on campuses, through her lens as both a descendant of Armenian Genocide survivors and a university professor. Read it here: bit.ly/4fwSjwy

🎉 Congrats to IALA Advisory Board member @raffijoe.bsky.social, Poet Laureate of Glendale, CA, on being named a 2025 AAP Poet Laureate Fellow! His San Gabriel Valley Phoenix Poets project will uplift communities impacted by the 2025 Eaton Fire. 🕊️📖 Learn more about his project below!

Join us for IALA Off the Clock⏰—our annual virtual meet & greet—on Aug 24 at 10 AM PT | 1 PM ET | 9 PM AMT! Connect, share projects, hear upcoming plans, & tell us what you want to see next. 💬 Learn more and register: bit.ly/47it0fG

Creating in Dangerous Times by Celeste Nazeli Snowber is a universal invitation to reclaim our human birthright of creativity. Each poem serves as a timely incantation—one might even say a ”prescription”—for creative malaise. 💌 📖 Learn more: bit.ly/4ovyEBu

Member Spotlight: @amarapossian.bsky.social! 🌟 Meet Amara: an educator, community organizer, and 2024 IALA mentee. Based in Toronto, Amara uses storytelling to bridge her personal experience with social change for @350.org. Now, she’s turning inward with a memoir-in-progress! 📚

Check out this interview IALA board member Aida Zilelian did for Vartan Abdo of Parev TV alongside storyteller and cartoonist Anoush Froundjian about their live storytelling show, "The Armenian Power Hour." 🎙️ 🇦🇲 Watch it here 👉 bit.ly/45kQwGr

If you're into literary analysis, don’t miss this @newversereview.bsky.social essay on the evolution of lyric poetry. 📚 IALA member Armen Davoudian is featured with poems from The Palace of Forty Pillars as examples of poetic mastery! Read here: bit.ly/3U6zIhd

Join us TOMORROW for our special literary event featuring some of your favorite IALA writers! ✨🍎 Don't miss out. RSVP and snag your spot here: givebutter.com/IALA-WORD

A kitchen staple—or layers of memory and meaning? 🧅✨ Read IALA advisory board member Peter Balakian’s evocative poem “Onions,” published in @newyorker.com, and see how poetry can transform the everyday into something profound. Check it out: bit.ly/4of4BOc

Curious about our last Literary Lights guest Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian’s new book, Forest Euphoria? 📖 🍄 Check out this feature in LitHub that delves into her work and vision for a more inclusive view of science and the natural world. Read it here: bit.ly/4l21zKe

📣 NYC friends! Join us next Thursday for a special literary evening with some of your favorite IALA writers. Come for the words, stay for the community! Don’t miss it! Register here: givebutter.com/IALA-WORD

"a queer superstar persona encounters a boy with a plastic AK-47 in a sunny february yerevan park..." Read IALA executive director Hovsep Markarian's new poem "duality/ two worlds collide," now published in Azad Archives! 📖 Check it out 👉 bit.ly/455Q8v4

Got any plans July 27th? 🗓️ Now you do! Join IALA advisory board member Lory Bedikian and California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick on Zoom for a poetry reading with Cecilia Woloch and friends! Sit back, relax, and get your poetry fix. Register for the event here 👉 bit.ly/4o4HIwN

Water. Earth. Air. Fire. Long ago, these four nations lived in harmony... and IALA board member Arthur Kayzakian wrote about it! 🌟 Check out The Library of Elemental Bending, Vol. I, a poetic response to Avatar: The Last Airbender, now in the Capilano Review: bit.ly/46mlWyb

"Silence is either a shield, a puzzle piece, or a commentary." 💬 IALA board member Lory Bedikian talks poetry, silence, and family history in her @prairie-schooner.bsky.social interview on Jagadakeer: Apology to the Body. 📖 Read here: bit.ly/40tsPtO

Writers & translators! Get ready for IALA's grants! Applications open September 1st, so now’s the time to prep your materials. From creative writing to literary translation, IALA offers awards of up to $3,000 as well as promotional support. Learn more: armenianliterary.org/grants

Curious about IALA advisory board member Garen Torikian’s new zine? 📚📰 Learn how Inch Press is spotlighting Armenian literature—one translated short story at a time—in this new feature from Asbarez. Read the full article: bit.ly/40pDfup

Missed our queer storytelling workshop last Saturday? 💔 Watch the full recording now on YouTube and follow along at your own pace 👉 bit.ly/44zTaZN Thanks to our Queer Lit Committee, cosponsors, and funders for making it possible! 🌈✍️

Join our NYC Chapter at Brooklyn's @wordbookstores.bsky.social for a literary evening of poetry and prose featuring an incredible lineup of readers! 🗓️ July 31st | 7:00 PM ET 📍126 Franklin Street, Brooklyn, NY. 🔗 Register here: givebutter.com/IALA-WORD

"I wondered if some of my “American” clothes made it into the cases, tucked away as a reminder of here, and of me." Read IALA member Renè Zadoorian's short story, "American Boys," now republished in Azad Archives! Check it out 👉 bit.ly/455ZSFZ

🌈 Reminder: IALA’s queer storytelling workshop is happening TOMORROW! Facilitated by author Haig Chahinian, in this workshop, you'll reflect on your lived experiences of feeling like “the only one” through a series of writing prompts. 🔗 Register: bit.ly/447Ct7G

Ever hear “Show, don’t tell” and wonder if it’s really the rule? Author Aram Mrjoian weighs in during his Writing Advice Remix interview with Kat Lewis, where he also shares insights from writing his debut novel, Waterline. 📚 Check it out: bit.ly/4lKdI7g