Staff

Hovsep Markarian

Executive Director

Hovsep is a Yerevan-based storyteller and cultural manager with a background of over nine years in diverse nonprofit managerial roles as well as journalism. He is passionate about and has experience in multiple art forms including writing, standup, music and theater. 

He currently serves as the executive director of IALA. In the past, he has worked with the Golden Apricot International Film Festival, Creative Armenia, the Tumanyan International Storytelling Festival, EVN Report (Armenia); Jusoor (Lebanon); the Armenian Institute (UK); and other mission-oriented organizations. He holds an MA degree in Cultural Studies from SOAS, University of London.

Nairi Simonyan

Social Media & Marketing Coordinator

Nairi is a writer based in Los Angeles, California. She self-published her first novel, From Afar, in 2016. Since then, she earned her B.A. in Creative Writing at California State University, Northridge and her work has appeared multiple times in The Northridge Review. She also works as a Marketing Assistant for The Gryphon Press and a fiction submission reader for X-R-A-Y Magazine.