IALA X h-pem | 2023 Young Armenian Poets Awards: On Visibility
[Scroll down to read the full statement]
“It’s hard not to think of the prompt for this year’s Young Armenian Poets Awards (YAPA) as a dark harbinger of things to come for the Armenian people of Artsakh and, indeed, all Armenians around the globe. This notion of visibility and how it relates to our identity and experience is now profoundly impacting us to our very core, as nearly all of Artsakh’s 120,000 residents have been forced to leave their homeland and have become refugees,” writes YAPA’s founder and director Alan Semerdjian in his introductory statement for h-pem, that has graciously collaborated with IALA for the third year in a row.
In 2023, the theme of “Visibility” resonates deeply as the Armenian people face challenging times, particularly in Artsakh. The lack of media coverage and international support is disheartening, leading many to feel as though they are disappearing before their own eyes. However, YAPA continues to shine a spotlight on these issues through the power of poetry. This year’s winning and honorable mention poems offer poignant reflections on identity, remembrance, and resistance.
Congratulations to winners Isabel Nargizian, Sofia Viana Ogulluk, Vladimir Mkrtchian, and honorable mention, Alessandra Agopian! And a huge thank you to our excellent judges—Gregory Djanikian, Armine Iknadossian, and Raffi Wartanian—whose insightful commentary on the winning works can also be read here.
Follow the links below to read the winning poems in h-pem magazine:
- Isabel Nargizian: “Mother my shadow” (Winner)
- Sofia Viana Ogulluk: “The Children of Armenia” (Winner)
- Vladimir Mkrtchian: “Anahit’s Legacy” (Winner)
- Alessandra Agopian: “Seen by Armenians” (Honorable Mention)
The young poets will read their work at our third annual Emerging Writers Showcase (details to be announced soon) — a virtual reading to highlight the work of rising Armenian writers — on Sunday, October 22, 2023, at 9:00 AM Pacific | 12:00 PM Eastern | 8:00 PM AMT. The event will also feature readings by the mentees of this year’s Mentorship Program, who will be introduced by their mentors.
“It’s hard not to think of the prompt for this year’s Young Armenian Poets Awards (YAPA) as a dark harbinger of things to come for the Armenian people of Artsakh and, indeed, all Armenians around the globe. This notion of visibility and how it relates to our identity and experience is now profoundly impacting us to our very core, as nearly all of Artsakh’s 120,000 residents have been forced to leave their homeland and have become refugees. The lack of thoughtful and responsible media coverage is enraging, and the scarceness of support internationally almost stupefying considering the warning bells and calls for action from a host of notable institutions and human rights/genocide scholars. One might say we are disappearing right before our own eyes, and for the families on the ground who have lost so much already, the situation is unfathomably worse.
Despite the lack of visibility and amidst the growing alarm regarding the blockade of the Lachin Corridor in the months leading up to our catastrophic present, young writers from the Diaspora, Armenia, and Artsakh itself turned to the power of language and poetry to help them make sense out of senselessness. Of course, not enough praise can be granted to the teachers, family members, and friends in their lives who shared with them our call for work (and sometimes under incredibly strenuous conditions), but the truest heroes are these young poets—all of them, not just the few who are recognized as winners—who chose to, as Armenian writer Gostan Zarian once wrote, “illuminate some dark corner of the universe.” Spending meaningful time with their words is akin to bathing in a kind of warm and necessary light, and while it’s hard to conjure up hope these days, it’s not so difficult to see and be moved by their resolve.
Once again, I want to thank our excellent judges—Gregory Djanikian, Armine Iknadossian, and Raffi Wartanian—who read the works without any biographical information and selected outstanding poems, carefully crafted and full of vision and artistry, for which they have provided some thoughtful and engaging commentary here. And thank you, especially, to the International Armenian Literary Alliance’s Program Manager, Hovsep Markarian, and Founder/Director Olivia Katrandjian, whose combined assistance was essential in the delivering of these new voices to the world. With regard to delivering, we’re grateful for our ongoing partnership with the Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Society’s literary/artistic arm, h-pem magazine, which has been the destination and first online home for the Young Armenian Poets Awards for the past three years. We’re ever so grateful.
Finally, ahead of the three winning poems and our honorable mention, I’d like to share the words of entrants Alisa Tavadyan Armen and Angelika Atayan Ararat, a pair of young writers (and best friends) from Taghavard, Artsakh whose work (translated by Lilly Torosyan) was not selected this year but whose introductory submission notes left a formidable impression: “We turned to poetry as necessity…both a salve and a weapon for us,” they wrote. Poetry as “necessity,” both for and against. A salve for our pain. A weapon against our vanishing. I don’t know where Alisa and Angelika are today (and I hope for their well-being)*, but I feel like I can see them, visible and true, clearly in their words. And that—perhaps more importantly—what they see and have seen, all of them, is our greatest teacher as we move forward.”
Graphic by h-pem.