Queer Armenian Literature: A Reading

In honor of LGBTQ Pride Month, the International Armenian Literary Alliance, with Hye-Phen Magazine and the Queer Armenian Library, hosted a reading of Queer Armenian writers. 

The video from our June 5th event is forthcoming and we will post it here. You can read more about our featured writers here.

Nyri A. Bakkalian read from her novel Grey Dawn: A Tale of Abolition and Union.

Armen Davoudian read from his new poetry collection Swan Song.

Hrayr Khanjian his poetry, including “Sex Poem.” 

Lillian Avedian read from her new poetry collection Journey to Tatev.

Mashinka Firunts read from her forthcoming (2021) book Algorithmic Bias Training: Lectures for Intelligent Machines.

Milena Tadukhepa read “To Apri.” 

Audrey Kouyoumdjian from her memoir Straight to Gay: Coming Out Saved My Life Creating Joy and Health.

Co-hosts

The Hye-Phen was first launched in 2014 as an online magazine and global collective. Since then, our mission continues to connect and build community among queer Armenian artists, scholars, and writers, and amplify what’s been under-spoken for so long: our stories, challenges, ideas, dreams, and visions for the future. We proudly operate today as a fully independent, queer, Armenian-run digital media platform and publishing collective, carving out a space that celebrates free expression, sharing histories, imagining utopia, and dismantling dystopia in and beyond the Armenian community. 

Launched in 2020, The Queer Armenian Library is exclusively dedicated to literature by, about, and for Queer Armenians. The library collects and showcases essays, memoirs, novels, poetry, films, TV series, and art installations from the early 20th century through today.

Designs by Flo Low. Find more of Flo’s work at www.flolow.co.uk, and follow them on Instagram at @boy.florence.