Showing posts with label IALA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IALA. Show all posts

Monday, September 27, 2021

IALA’s (International Armenian Literary Alliance) Young Armenian Poets Awards announced

APP wishes to congratulate the three poets who won IALA's Young Armenian Poets Awards, as well as the poet who received an honorable mention. Below are their poems previously published in H-pem online magazine: 

Sarkis Anthony Antonyan: I Meet the Gravedigger Burying a Soldier from Artsakh


Please, let me swallow the rain

               to save this soil.                He needs a good home,

                                                                      a dry cavern to sleep.

I will not

                            be long, I promise.

                                         His exoskeleton,

            soaked in military pattern,

                                                       must take one last

                           breath of the world around it.

Let me see the red on

                                         his chest one more time,

                                                                                   poked into 

the plush           like acupuncture,

                                                        almost deliberate.

                                                                       Do you know

                              who is responsible for                  this act? 

              If not,                                  I will tell you. 

It was like

                              this.      At home, we were glued to

the bottom of a well and                 stuffed with sand.

             And I didn’t know him

                                                          until the

stones around us crumbled.                          Do not drop him

               quick!                I beg for you 

                                                       to take my money 

and give me his gun.       Now the flashing medallions 

              on his chest darken,

                                                        the puckering ribbons

                            washing away without sound.       How is this

              the resolution

                                                          of an incomplete history?

I have removed my voice box

                                           and placed it

               on his heart.                                    Salted,

                                                          immobile.

Now,                  let me say

                                         to him:

                                                                       You are missed.

                                                         You,

               driven to the ground with honor.              Perhaps

this exile wasn’t fated by the stars,

                             but rooted           in the obligation of our clan.

Above us,

               the clouds swirl                gray and

                             inhale to accept the light.              The Sun,

a bead of hope in their curtains

                                          claiming the parting before it.

              I do not think this story                              is over,

will never be.                    I am hesitant but:

                                                                     here is our

farewell.                                         And watch!

                             See how

                                        this cavalier has

become a snowy dove,

                                                       rising through the ashes

                                        and sunlight,

                                                                     away.


 


Sarkis Anthony Antonyan is a student at Holy Martyrs Ferrahian High School Chatsworth, CA. He is  17 years old.

__________________

Sofia Demirdjian-Lara: I See You in the Jacarandas


I look at the Jacaranda tree 

In front of my apartment 

I hear your whispers 

In the wind, 

I feel your goosebumps 

In the cracks of your skin, 

And within them 

I walk into the closet of a dream. 

I can feel you smiling at me 

Through the veins of the leaves 


I see myself pondering 

In the nest above your head 

Feeding my children. 

I am a bird 

In another life 

By your side. 

I am one with the wind 

Blowing kisses 

In your direction 

So that you can feel them 

On your cheeks 

So you can blush with the rosy pink 

That used to hide 

Within the dark forests 

Of your makeup drawer 


Isn’t it lovely, 

How I can see my life 

Now that you stand 

Right before my eyes. 


Isn’t it lovely, 

How I can see myself 

Now that you are gone.


Sofia Demirdjian-Lara attends Heritage School in Glendale, CA. She is 17 years old.

__________________

Lucine Ekizian: Go Light on the Sweetness


Replacing the chamomile in my tea 

With the compact flowers, with purple petals, 

Hugging yellow centers, 

Encompassing millions of 

Beginnings, endings, 

And middles. 

I add the floral palette not to remember, 

But to forget-me-not. 


Does the honey cause a paucity of flavor? 

My moral compass spins as 

I pour in the sweetness. 


I will not drink tea without honey,

I will not consume honey without tea. 


As my soul lives there, and my body here, 

I live in both worlds, 

I live to acculturate.


Lucine Ekizian attends Blair High School in Pasadena, CA and she is 15 years old.

__________________

Natalie Abadjian: o White (Honorable mention)


As I pick up my #2 pencil, I’m left with 5 full moons to choose from. 

None of them represent me, I circle what is most “appropriate.” 


White, compiling myself with genocidal colonizers hiding behind the name of my country’s religion, the first nation to accept Jesus as their savior. 

Dismissing my 1.5 million ancestors, 

ancestral blood, 

lands, 

tears, 

5,000 18/19 year old martyrs. 

Succumbing to the prioritization of oil over human life, propaganda, gaslighting, mocking, injustice, human rights violations, & blood money. 


As idolized politicians camouflage their support through fraudulent systems, our hearts become vegan at the hopes of one day being recognized. 

The history of Noah’s descendants being re-“written” while the silence that prevailed bomb shelters for 45 days lingers, 

waiting for what once was. 


As these words drip from a demoralized diaspora’s lips, 

the juice from our pomegranate veins seep, 

our black bushy unibrow(s) mending the bridges between our ancestors that we never got to do. 


With mustard seed faith 

we thumbtack our “unanswered” prayers to the front of our skulls. 

we mournfully tread with cynicism as omnipotent as Ararat. 


The same way you, unapologetically, fund terrorists who value my head, if beheaded, at $100, while indigenous Armenians come to a point where no word in the English vocabulary describes our emotions. 

I’m unapologetic Amerikkkan school system, 

for the next time you see none of the zeros filled in. 

ամօթ.


Natalie Abadjian attends Pasadena High School in Pasadena, CA. She is 15 years old

Saturday, September 25, 2021

Emerging writers showcase today

 


Saturday, March 20, 2021

IALA launch, March 21, 2021

The International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA), a new non-profit dedicated to supporting the reading, writing and publishing of Armenian literature.


At the launch, board members will introduce the programming for the coming year, and seventeen Armenian writers from around the world will read from their work.

When: Sunday, March 21st at 10 am Pacific/ 1 pm Eastern / 5 pm London / 9 pm Yerevan time

Click here to register for the Zoom event.


Won't you join us!

Sunday, March 14, 2021

International Armenian Literary Alliance Launch event on March 21, 2021






Join us to celebrate the launch of the International Armenian Literary Alliance on March 21st, 1 pm EDT! The Board of Directors will host a virtual event to announce our new mentorship program, unveil the Young Armenian Poets Awards for high schoolers, reveal our 2021 calendar of events, and stage a virtual reading by Armenian writers from around the world.

Readers will include Lola Koundakjian, Shahe Mankerian, Nancy Agabian, Arthur Kayzakian, Olivia Katrandjian, Nancy Kricorian, Alan Semerdjian, Raffi Joe Wartanian, Arlene Avakian, Mashinka Firunts Hakopian, Lory Bedikian, Armine Iknadossian, Aram Mrjoian, Armen of Armenia and Marine Petrossian.

Register for this event using the link below:

Friday, February 26, 2021

2021 Young Armenian Poets Awards announced by IALA - International Armenian Literary Alliance

 IALA is announcing its inaugural Young Armenian Poets Award for ages 14-18. Deadline for submission is April 30, 2021

Guidelines

  • Poems must be no longer than 50 lines.
  • Poems must be submitted in English (translations are welcomed but the translator must be credited).
  • Writers may submit no more than 3 poems per submission and make only one submission.
  • All poems must be in the same document, and each must start on a new page.
  • Poems should be submitted in Garamond, size 12 font, and single-spaced with standard margins (1 inch on each side of the page unless the aesthetic of the poem calls for variations).
  • Poems should be submitted as .pdf, .doc, or .docx files.
  • All students must fill out registration information through our Google Form with their submission.
  • No personal information (including author names) should appear on the submission, as work will be read anonymously.
  • Writers must identify as Armenian.

For further details, click on  this link

Thursday, October 15, 2020

Don't Look Away: A Literary Series for Artsakh continues Saturday October 17, 2020

Please join the International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA) on Saturday, October 17th at 3:00 PM Eastern for the next installment of Don't Look Away, a literary series raising awareness and funds for #Artsakh, featuring Arthur Kayzakian, Lola Koundakjian, Mashinka F. Hakopian, Armen Davoudian, Nairi Hakhverdi, Alene Terzian and Alan Semerdjian.

Click here to register: http://bit.ly/ArtsakhSeries2






Wednesday, October 07, 2020

Don't Look Away: A Literary Series for Artsakh




Dear friends and colleagues,

On September 27th, Azerbaijan, directly aided by Turkey, launched a massive assault on Nagorno Karabakh, an ethnically Armenian territory known to Armenians as Artsakh. Since then, both Artsakh and the Republic of Armenia have been under attack. Artsakh’s capital, Stepanakert, has been relentlessly bombarded by drones, missile strikes and military aircraft. Azerbaijan is targeting not only military forces but also the civilian population and vital infrastructure like hospitals and schools, and evidence shows they have used lethal cluster munitions, which can wreak havoc for decades. In July, Erdogan promised ‘to fulfill the mission our grandfathers have carried out for centuries in the Caucasus,’ a statement with clear echoes of the Armenian Genocide. Armenians fear this assault is an attack on our existence as a people, and we need your help.

On behalf of the International Armenian Literary Alliance, I invite you to the first reading in our series, Don't Look Away, which will raise funds and awareness for Artsakh. The reading will provide context on the conflict and feature award-winning authors Peter Balakian, Carolyn Forché, Nancy Kricorian, Anna Turcotte and Lory Bedikian.


When: Saturday, October 10th at 3 pm Eastern
Click here to join us on Zoom (Password: IALA2020)


Click here to donate to the cause.


Thank you for your support.--

Olivia Katrandjian
www.oliviakatrandjian.com