Watch: Literary Lights 2024: Featuring Ariel Djanikian

The second event of our 2024 reading series, Literary Lights, featured Ariel Djanikian, author of the Barnes & Noble October 2023 book selection, The Prospectors. Djanikian was joined by Aline Ohanesian, author of the critically acclaimed novel, Orhan’s Inheritance. The event took place virtually on March 9, 2024 at 10:00 AM Pacific | 1:00 PM Eastern | 10:00 PM Armenia time. Watch the recording on our YouTube channel.

Bringing the Klondike and turn-of-the-century California to vivid life, Ariel Djanikian weaves an ambitious narrative of claiming the American Dream and its rippling effects across generations. Sweeping and awe-inspiring, The Prospectors is an unforgettable story of family loyalties that interrogates the often-overlooked hostilities and inequities born during the Gold Rush era. Learn more about the novel.

Ariel Djanikian was born in Philadelphia and attended the University of Pennsylvania. She holds an MFA from the University of Michigan and is the previous recipient of a Fulbright grant, Meijer Fellowship, Cowden Award, and Hopwood Award. She is the author of the novel The Office of Mercy, and her writing has appeared in Tin House, Alaska Quarterly Review, Glimmer Train, The Millions, and The Rumpus. She currently lives near DC with her husband and children and teaches fiction writing at Georgetown University.

Aline Ohanesian is the author of the critically acclaimed novel, Orhan’s Inheritance, which was long listed for the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize, a Summer 2015 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers pick, a April 2014 Indie Next pick, and an Amazon Top 25 pick for 2015. The novel was also a finalist for the PEN Bellwether Award for Socially Engaged Fiction and has been translated into 13 languages. She lives and writes in San Juan Capistrano, CA with her husband and two young sons.

Literary Lights 2024 is a monthly reading series organized by IALA, the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), and the Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center. Each event—held online—will feature a writer reading from their work, followed by a discussion with an interviewer and audience members. Keep an eye on our website and socials for the exact dates of each event. Read along with the series by purchasing titles from the IALA Bookstore or the NAASR Bookstore.