IALA Holiday Book Guide 2022

Our 2022 holiday book guide includes exciting new titles that will make wonderful gifts for you and your loved ones. From recent releases to Armenian literature in translation, there’s a book for everyone on your list!

The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian 

A luxurious African safari turns deadly for a Hollywood starlet and her entourage in this riveting historical thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Flight Attendant.

Available at: Penguin Random House | Barnes & Noble | Amazon

No Sign by Peter Balakian

In these poems, Pulitzer Prize winner Peter Balakian wrestles with national and global cultural and political realities, including challenges for the human species amid planetary transmutation and the impact of mass violence on the self and culture.

Available at: University of Chicago Press | Arrowsmith Press | Barnes & Noble | Amazon

Unchecked: The Untold Story Behind the Botched Impeachments of Donald Trump by Rachael Bade and Karoun Demirjian

A revealing, behind-the-scenes examination of how Congress twice fumbled its best chance to hold accountable a president many considered one of the most dangerous in American history. The definitive—and only—insider account of both Trump impeachments, as told by the two reporters on the front lines covering them for The Washington Post and Politico.

Available at: HarperCollins Publishers | Barnes & Noble | Amazon

Sorry Bro, by Taleen Voskuni

An Armenian-American woman rediscovers her roots and embraces who she really is in this vibrant and heartfelt queer rom-com by debut author Taleen Voskuni.

Preorder at: Penguin Random House | Barnes & Noble | Amazon

We Are All Armenian: Voices from the Diaspora by Aram Mrjoian

Edited by Aram Mrjoian, We Are All Armenian brings together established and emerging Armenian authors to reflect on the complications of Armenian ethnic identity today. These personal essays elevate diasporic voices that have been historically silenced inside and outside of their communities, including queer, multiracial, and multiethnic writers.

Contributors include Liana Aghajanian, Naira Kuzmich, Sophia Armen, Kohar Avakian, Nancy Kricorian, Olivia Katrandjian, Chris McCormick, Nancy Agabian, Chris Bohjalian, Aline Ohanesian, Raffi Joe Wartanian, Anna Gazmarian, J. P. Der Boghossian, Raffy Boudjikanian, Hrag Vartanian, Mashinka Firunts Hakopian, Carene Rose Mekertichyan, and Scout Tufankjian.

Prorder at: University of Texas Press | Barnes & Noble | Amazon

The Hitman’s Daughter by Carolyne Topdjian

In a formerly-grand haunted hotel, a woman must rely on her infamous hitman father’s lessons in survival after a body is found.

Available at: Barnes & Noble | Amazon

Jack Pays a Visit by Michael Minassian

Jack Pays a Visit is a collection of poems centered around the character Jack Karapetian (1925-1994), who wrote under the pen name of Hakob Karapents. Born in Tabriz, Iran, Jack was a prolific Armenian-American writer who wrote almost exclusively in Armenian.

Available at: Assure Press | Barnes & Noble | Amazon

Star Lake by Arda Collins

Star Lake is a deeply personal collection of poetry that explores the ways our notions of daily life touch the presence of the eternal. In this Yale Younger Poets award winner’s new collection, Collins returns with truly unforgettable poems that haunt and comfort.

Available at: The Song Cave | Barnes & Noble | Amazon

American Wildflowers by Susan Barba and Leanne Shapton

American Wildflowers: A Literary Field Guide, edited by Susan Barba and illustrated by Leanne Shapton, is a literary anthology filled with classic and contemporary poems, essays, and letters inspired by wildflowers—perfect for writers, artists, and botanists alike.

Available at: Abrams Books | Barnes & Noble | Amazon

Godless Hour by Ara Iskanderian

Godless Hour is a tale of magical realism, in which, for a single hour of one dark night, the statues of Yerevan are brought to life. The illustrated novella blends both prose and poetry as it trots through Armenian history and culture. Merging past and present, it seeks to understand the inherited legacy and possible future that belongs to an Armenia that is rendered both fantastic and real by the author. 

Available at: Gomidas Institute | Abril Bookstore | Amazon

To Say with Passion: Why Am I Here? by Tenny Arlen

To Say with Passion contains the poetry of American-Armenian poet Tenny Arlen. With no prior knowledge of Armenian, in 2011 at the age of twenty Tenny began taking Western Armenian language and literature classes at UCLA. Over the next two years, she began to compose her own poetry in the classes, and was preparing a book of verse, before her untimely death in a car accident in 2015 at age 24. This posthumous volume was published in 2021 in Armenia by the ARI Literature Foundation with assistance from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The book includes an afterword by Prof. Hagop Gulludjian.

Available at: Abril Bookstore | Buy Armenian

#jivjiv by Hrayr Varaz

#jivjiv is a collection of twitter poems written by queer Armenian poet n linguist Hrayr Varaz (ig hrayr_huh_died), cover and illustrations by Amy Kazandjian (ig amykazn). This first volume includes 29 pieces about Armenian language, food, holidays, people, coffee-cup readings. Each in Western Armenian and English with their corresponding pronunciations, written with speling freedoms.  

Available at: Abril Bookstore

English Translations Of Authors Writing in Armenian

Jesus’ Cat by Grigor Shashikyan (aka Grig)

The stories of this debut collection reveal, on the one hand, a unique writing style, and on the other, an original perspective on the world and people. This combination allows characters to develop in Grig’s creative space that helps readers discover another invisible side of life.

Translator: Nazareth Seferian

Available at: Glagoslav Publications | Barnes & Noble | Amazon

Point Zero by Narek Malian

Throughout the whole of human history, people have killed each other in the name of God. In the first storyline of the novel Point Zero, the author pictures the start of the Crusades by Pope Urban II in 1095. The second story takes place in 1090 in Persia, where Hassan-i Sabbāh, an Ismaili missionary, establishes an extremist religious community and seizes a fortress of Alamut. The third story is set in present day Paris in November 2015 where a young French woman called Liz, and a young Arab man called Ali fall in love and are amazed at their differences, however, Ali’s traditional and religious family makes it complicated for them to be together.

Translator: Haykuhi Babajanyan

Available at: Glagoslav Publications | Amazon

Goodbye, Bird by Aram Pachyan

For a twenty-eight-year-old young man who returned from the army several years ago but has yet to reacclimatize to ordinary life, every step, gesture, word, and vision is a revelation, which takes him back to the beginning, to a time when reality had lost its shape, and turned into a new and imperceptible world.

Translator: Nairi Hakhverdi

Available at: Glagoslav Publications | Barnes & Noble | Amazon

Ravens before Noah by Susanna Harutyunyan 

Ravens before Noah is set in the Armenian mountains sometime in 1915-1960. An old man and a new born baby boy escape from the Hamidian massacres in Turkey in 1894 and hide themselves in the ruins of a demolished and abandoned village. The village soon becomes a shelter for many others, who flee from problems with the law, their families, or their past lives.

Translator: Nazareth Seferian

Available at: Glagoslav Publications | Barnes & Noble | Amazon

Fleeting City by Hovhannes Tekgyozyan

Tekgyozyan’s novel has been described as a “virtual movie-novella, where mysticism and urban typologies, grotesque and humourous transitions are all interlaced.” He touches on themes previously taboo in Armenian but which characterize much of the new Armenia including virtual reality, sexuality, suicide, drugs . His style resonates with an almost cartoon-animated quality.

Translator: Nairi Hakhverdi

Available at: Mosaic Press | Amazon

Robinson by Aram Pachyan

Robinson is the first book by Aram Pachyan, which earned him the highest governmental award in Armenia, The Presidential Prize for Literature. The volume is made up of 16 short stories; each story is like a small but sharp painting of various characters. The faces in these paintings look very familiar, like someone you know, or someone hiding deep inside you. An inescapable loneliness of people in the modern world is the main topic of the stories by Pachyan.

Translators: Nazareth Seferian, Nairi Hakhverdi, Arevik Ashkharoyan, Nyree Abrahamian, and Lusine Mueller

Available at: Glagoslav Publications | Barnes & Noble | Amazon

The Door Was Open by Karine Khodikyan

The Door Was Open can be described as intellectual fiction for women. These short stories with a “mystical touch” tell stories about women – young and old, happy and sad; even when the protagonist is not a woman, the story will immerse you into the life of a woman, revealing her role in anything and everything.

Translator: Nazareth Seferian

Available at: Glagoslav Publications | Barnes & Noble | Amazon

In case you’ve missed it, check out our 2021 holiday book guide here!