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AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone 212.319.6383 x.118
Fax 212.319.6507
Email [email protected]
Website www.agbu.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, December 16, 2004
ARARAT MAGAZINE HELD EXCITING LITERARY EVENING WITH ANAHID AWARD
WINNERS ERIC BOGOSIAN, DIANA DER-HOVANESSIAN, GREGORY DJANIKIAN
NEW YORK, NY- Three Armenian-American authors read from their writings
and shared thoughts on their work to a New York area audience at a
special ARARAT magazine event held at AGBU headquarters on November 4.
The three authors, New York writer/performer Eric Bogosian, Boston poet
and translator Diana Der-Hovanessian, and Philadelphia poet Gregory
Djanikian, were all winners of the Anahid Literary Award, and it was
clear this evening that the award had helped reinforce their ties to
Armenian literature and culture in multiple ways. ARARAT commemorated
the fifteenth anniversary of these awards by a special anniversary
issue this year, including samples of the writings of the winners,
and through this event. The first editor of ARARAT, Jack Antreassian,
was instrumental in the establishment of the prize, and the members of
the selection committee affiliated with the Armenian Center at Columbia
have largely been ARARAT board members, including its recently deceased
longtime chairman and ARARAT editor, Leo Hamalian.
The program, with Aram Arkun of ARARAT serving as master of ceremonies,
began with Diana Der-Hovanessian reciting some of her work, new and
old, interspersed with interesting comments on what inspired these
poems. Her trips to Armenia and meetings with Armenian writers were
vividly described. Among other things, the audience learned of her
frustration with the distortions of Armenian culture and history
in a prominent museum exhibit which galvanized her to push for
the establishment of an Armenian museum, which eventually became
the Armenian Library and Museum of America located in Watertown,
Massachusetts. Diana Der-Hovannesian's own poems deal with personal
as well as Armenian themes. She is one of the premier translators
of Armenian poets into English. She has awards from the NEA, PSA,
PEN-Columbia Translation Center, National Writers Union, American
Scholar, Prairie Schooner and Paterson Poetry Center. Aside from
teaching and workshops at various American universities, she has
taught twice as a Fulbright professor in Yerevan. Her own poems have
been published in Armenian translation, and she is now working on
a new anthology of 19th and 20th century Armenian poetry.
The program took a radically different turn with Eric Bogosian, a
creator of monologues and solo shows as well as a playwright, novelist,
and actor. After some comments about his connections with Armenians, he
surprised the audience with a reading from a new novel in progress-Lost
Beauty. Bogosian, announcing his admiration for the writer Philip Roth,
noted that he felt a little like Roth himself, known for playing
a role as a character in his own novels. Bogosian's protagonist,
incidentally, is having an affair while questioning various aspects
of his life. Before beginning the reading Bogosian apologized for the
raw language, and wondered whether he was not the Henry Miller of the
Armenians. Bogosian found that he can express more through the form
of a novel. In addition, he will also be performing as Satan in a
new play entitled "The Trial of Judas Iscariot," scheduled to open
next spring at the Public Theater. Bogosian's solos have received
three Obie awards and a Drama Desk
Award, while his works have had extended runs Off-Broadway, and have
been performed around the world. He has appeared in over two-dozen
films, including his own adaptation of his play Talk Radio and Atom
Egoyan's "Ararat". In 2004, Bogosian was named a Guggenheim fellow.
The final speaker, Gregory Djanikian, presented a series of his
poems, published and unpublished. Some dealt with life in America,
but most dealt with the Armenian Genocide and its repercussions. They
will have a place in his forthcoming fifth volume of poetry, which
represents a renewed dialogue with his Armenian past and an attempt
to grapple with the continuing existence of terrifying violence
in this world. Djanikian, born in Egypt, grew up in New York and
Pennsylvania. He began writing seriously while an undergraduate in
college. His literary awards include a National Endowment for the Arts
Fellowship, the Eunice Tietjens Prize, the Friends of Literature Prize
and two honors from "Poetry" magazine. In addition to his writing,
he is Director of the Creative Writing Program at the University
of Pennsylvania.
ARARAT magazine (www.agbu.org/ararat), the magazine that for decades
has been a forum for quality writing in the English language on
topics of Armenian culture, politics, and literature, especially from
Armenian-American talent, is sponsored by the AGBU. Copies of the
special 96-page Anahid Award issue or other back issues are available
at $7 each, while annual subscriptions are $24. To subscribe or
order back issues, please contact Hripsime by calling, 212-319-6383,
emailing, [email protected], or by mailing your request along with a
check to ARARAT/AGBU, 55 E. 59th Street, NY, NY 10022-1112.
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone 212.319.6383 x.118
Fax 212.319.6507
Email [email protected]
Website www.agbu.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, December 16, 2004
ARARAT MAGAZINE HELD EXCITING LITERARY EVENING WITH ANAHID AWARD
WINNERS ERIC BOGOSIAN, DIANA DER-HOVANESSIAN, GREGORY DJANIKIAN
NEW YORK, NY- Three Armenian-American authors read from their writings
and shared thoughts on their work to a New York area audience at a
special ARARAT magazine event held at AGBU headquarters on November 4.
The three authors, New York writer/performer Eric Bogosian, Boston poet
and translator Diana Der-Hovanessian, and Philadelphia poet Gregory
Djanikian, were all winners of the Anahid Literary Award, and it was
clear this evening that the award had helped reinforce their ties to
Armenian literature and culture in multiple ways. ARARAT commemorated
the fifteenth anniversary of these awards by a special anniversary
issue this year, including samples of the writings of the winners,
and through this event. The first editor of ARARAT, Jack Antreassian,
was instrumental in the establishment of the prize, and the members of
the selection committee affiliated with the Armenian Center at Columbia
have largely been ARARAT board members, including its recently deceased
longtime chairman and ARARAT editor, Leo Hamalian.
The program, with Aram Arkun of ARARAT serving as master of ceremonies,
began with Diana Der-Hovanessian reciting some of her work, new and
old, interspersed with interesting comments on what inspired these
poems. Her trips to Armenia and meetings with Armenian writers were
vividly described. Among other things, the audience learned of her
frustration with the distortions of Armenian culture and history
in a prominent museum exhibit which galvanized her to push for
the establishment of an Armenian museum, which eventually became
the Armenian Library and Museum of America located in Watertown,
Massachusetts. Diana Der-Hovannesian's own poems deal with personal
as well as Armenian themes. She is one of the premier translators
of Armenian poets into English. She has awards from the NEA, PSA,
PEN-Columbia Translation Center, National Writers Union, American
Scholar, Prairie Schooner and Paterson Poetry Center. Aside from
teaching and workshops at various American universities, she has
taught twice as a Fulbright professor in Yerevan. Her own poems have
been published in Armenian translation, and she is now working on
a new anthology of 19th and 20th century Armenian poetry.
The program took a radically different turn with Eric Bogosian, a
creator of monologues and solo shows as well as a playwright, novelist,
and actor. After some comments about his connections with Armenians, he
surprised the audience with a reading from a new novel in progress-Lost
Beauty. Bogosian, announcing his admiration for the writer Philip Roth,
noted that he felt a little like Roth himself, known for playing
a role as a character in his own novels. Bogosian's protagonist,
incidentally, is having an affair while questioning various aspects
of his life. Before beginning the reading Bogosian apologized for the
raw language, and wondered whether he was not the Henry Miller of the
Armenians. Bogosian found that he can express more through the form
of a novel. In addition, he will also be performing as Satan in a
new play entitled "The Trial of Judas Iscariot," scheduled to open
next spring at the Public Theater. Bogosian's solos have received
three Obie awards and a Drama Desk
Award, while his works have had extended runs Off-Broadway, and have
been performed around the world. He has appeared in over two-dozen
films, including his own adaptation of his play Talk Radio and Atom
Egoyan's "Ararat". In 2004, Bogosian was named a Guggenheim fellow.
The final speaker, Gregory Djanikian, presented a series of his
poems, published and unpublished. Some dealt with life in America,
but most dealt with the Armenian Genocide and its repercussions. They
will have a place in his forthcoming fifth volume of poetry, which
represents a renewed dialogue with his Armenian past and an attempt
to grapple with the continuing existence of terrifying violence
in this world. Djanikian, born in Egypt, grew up in New York and
Pennsylvania. He began writing seriously while an undergraduate in
college. His literary awards include a National Endowment for the Arts
Fellowship, the Eunice Tietjens Prize, the Friends of Literature Prize
and two honors from "Poetry" magazine. In addition to his writing,
he is Director of the Creative Writing Program at the University
of Pennsylvania.
ARARAT magazine (www.agbu.org/ararat), the magazine that for decades
has been a forum for quality writing in the English language on
topics of Armenian culture, politics, and literature, especially from
Armenian-American talent, is sponsored by the AGBU. Copies of the
special 96-page Anahid Award issue or other back issues are available
at $7 each, while annual subscriptions are $24. To subscribe or
order back issues, please contact Hripsime by calling, 212-319-6383,
emailing, [email protected], or by mailing your request along with a
check to ARARAT/AGBU, 55 E. 59th Street, NY, NY 10022-1112.