Introducing IALA’s 2025 Israelyan Eastern Armenian Translation Grant Recipient

We extend our thanks to everyone who submitted their work to IALA’s 2025 Israelyan Eastern Armenian Translation Grant, and to Margarit Ordukhanyan for judging it. The grant continues to draw a remarkable range of submissions, and we’re grateful to have read such diverse and ambitious works.

This year’s grant was for a work of literature (in any literary genre) written in Eastern Armenian and published any time after 1915, including the Modernist and Contemporary periods. We’re delighted to announce that the $3,000 grant has been awarded to Nazareth Seferian for his translation of Secret of the Dragon Stone: Stone’s End «Վիշապաքարի գաղտնիքը․ Քարի վերջը» by Artavazd Yeghiazaryan.

“I would like to extend my congratulations to the translator of Secret of the Dragon Stone: Stone’s End on both selecting a wonderful, captivating, and original work of Armenian fiction and on preparing a competent, lively, translation sample for submission,” wrote this year’s judge, Margarit Ordukhanyan. “The combination of the old Armenian folklore and effortlessly modern Armenian life and language, one that reflects the Armenian youth of the 21st century makes this book especially compelling.”

Nazareth Seferian was born in Canada, grew up in India and moved to Armenia in 1998, where he has been living ever since. His university education has not been specific to translation studies, but his love for languages led him to this work in 2001. He began literary translations in 2011 and his published works include translations of novels and short stories by Gurgen Khanjyan, Mushegh Galshoyan, Susanna Harutyunyan, Grig, Karine Khodikyan, Aram Pachyan, Levon Shahnur, Armen of Armenia (Ohanyan), Areg Azatyan, Avetik Mejlumyan, Anna Davtyan, Arman Aghlamazyan and more. Nazareth’s typical work week includes activities in a completely different sector combined with several pages of translation. Driven by his desire to promote greater availability and recognition of Armenian culture for English speakers worldwide, one of Nazareth’s dreams is to play a key role as the translator when an Armenian author wins a major international literature prize.

The 2025 Israelyan Eastern Armenian Translation Grant from the International Armenian Literary Alliance was made possible by a generous donation from Souren A. Israelyan, whose funding will ensure more Armenian literature is translated from and into English.