Watch: Emerging Writers Showcase 2023

IALA’s third annual Emerging Writers Showcase — a virtual reading to highlight the work of rising Armenian writers — took place on Sunday, October 22, 2023, and was hosted by Shahé Mankerian, IALA’s Mentorship Program Director. Watch here.

The event featured readings by the participants of the 2023 Mentorship Program, and the winners of IALA’s 2023 Young Armenian Poets Awards. The showcase also helped raise funds for four Armenian writers who were forcibly displaced from their homes in Artsakh after Azerbaijan’s violent assault on the republic in September, 2023. Donate today.

IALA’s 2023 mentee cohort includes Alen Voskanian, Alexia Kevonian, Asbed Pogarian, Byurakn Ishkhanyan, Carolina Gazal, John Ohan Danho, Juliette Hagobian, Karine Armen (Kurkjian), Lilly Torosyan, Lusine Vanyan, Marina Terteryan, Michelle Khazaryan, Pattianna Harootian, Rachel Sona Reed, Rafi Mankassarian, Roza Melkumyan, Sarah Elgatian, Sarah B. Ignatius, Sarah Mnatzaganian, and Sarkis Antonyan.

The winners of the 2023 Young Armenian Poets Awards are Isabel Nargizian, Sofia Viana Ogulluk, Vladimir Mkrtchian, and honorable mention, Alessandra Agopian. Read their winning poems featured in h-pem magazine. 

We are very excited to welcome these new voices into our growing literary community!