Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Bookshop.org

 Readers: If you don't live near an Armenian Bookstore, please visit the Bookshop.org store. 


Happy Reading! 

Sunday, October 15, 2023

TAPFNY 2023 reading in NYC and Long Island (October 11-13, 2023)

 Lola Koundakjian was invited for a second time to read in the Tenth edition of The Americas Poetry Festival of New York (TAPFNY). She read twice, during the opening night (at around 1:07 in the live stream) as well as at the Walt Whitman Birthplace Museum (at around 1:06PM in the livestream).

With many thanks to the organizers and institutions who hosted them. 





Saturday, August 19, 2023

Reading on September 1, 2023 at 7PM at the Walt Whitman Birthplace Museum, NY

Walt Whitman Birthplace Association (WWBA) presents “Walking With Whitman: Poetry in Performance.” The signature series, now in its 13th season, continues to bring the most intriguing figures in contemporary literature on the national scene paired with local poets on the Walt Whitman Stage.

Friday, September 1st, Walking With Whitman will feature Armenian poet Lola Koundakjian, and slam poet Anna Martinez. The evening will also feature a special guest host, the new Suffolk County Poet Laureate, Deborah Hauser, and have live music by Singer-Songwriter Linda Sussman. Join us for this exciting event!

Refreshments will be served. No registration is required. There is a $10 entry fee for this event that will be collected at the door.




Lola Koundakjian (www.lolakoundakjian.com) is an Armenian poet, editor and translator living in New York City since 1979. She runs the Dead Armenian Poetry Society and curates and produces poems and audio for the online Armenian Poetry Project. Lola’s translations from Western Armenian to English are in Ararat Quarterly, Rattapallax, Poetry International at SDSU, with more scheduled in Wassafiri in 2024. Since 2010, Lola has read her work at six international poetry festivals. In 2021 her third book — The Moon in the Cusp on my Hand — won the Minas and Kohar Tololyan Prize in Contemporary Literature. Lola serves on the board of the International Armenian Literary Association (https://armenianliterary.org)

Anna Martinez is a mother, grandmother, performance/competitive/slam poet, and civil rights attorney. Born in Los Angeles at the height of its civil rights movements, she was then raised from school age in Española, New Mexico. Anna Martinez has been named the 2022-2023 Poet Laureate of Albuquerque, NM. She is also the in-house poet at Las Pistoleras Instituto Cultural de Arte in Taos and has held titles as ABQ Chicano/a City Slam Champ, XXX Haiku City Champ, and 2019 City Slam Champ for team Mindwell Slam. She is also on the board of directors for Burque Revolt Poetry Slam and opens her home for free to touring poets. She lives in Albuquerque.

Linda Sussman (LindaSussman.com) is an award-winning singer-songwriter whose versatile vocals and guitar style cross boundaries of alternative-folk and blues. Her music, which has ranked #1 on the Roots Music Report’s weekly Alternative Folk Album Chart, spans universal topics from heartache and triumphs to calls for social justice and can be heard on radio programs in both the US and abroad. The many stages she has played range from the iconic New York City venue The Bitter End to Radio Bean in Burlington, VT. Over the past five years, Linda has released four full-length albums and several singles, all of which are available on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

Deborah Hauser – Poet, feminist, activist, certified ennui therapist, and fairy tale revisionist. Deborah Hauser is the author of Ennui: From the Diagnostic and Statistical Field Guide of Feminine Disorders. Her poems and book reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in Ms. Magazine, Women’s Review of Books, Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, Bellevue Literary Review, and Calyx. Her work explores the intersection of poetry and activism. A Pushcart Prize nominee, she has taught literature and writing at Stony Brook University and Suffolk County Community College. She has featured at the Northeast Modern Language Association, New York University, Newman University, KGB Bar, Walt Whitman Birthplace, and Bowery Poetry Club. She has presented her academic work at conferences including the Feminisms and Rhetorics Conference and graduate conferences at The City University of New York and Stony Brook University. She curates and hosts a monthly reading series at Jack Jack’s Coffee House for the Babylon Village Arts Council, is an Associate Editor at Poetrybay, the Secretary of the Suffolk County Chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and a Long Island Poetry and Literature Repository Board Member. She leads a double life on Long Island where she works in the insurance industry.




Tuesday, July 25, 2023

New York City Poetry Festival - July

 This annual festival will be held on the last week end of July on Governor's Island


Lola Koundakjian and other Nueva York Poetry Press poets will be reading on Sunday, July 30th at 1:30 PM at THE BLACKBIRD. Hope to see you there!





Unheard Of! Languages and Literatures from Around the World reading series to include Western Armenian

On June 13, 2023, Lola Koundakjian participated in a reading entitled NYC Poetry in Every Language, part of the "Unheard Of! Languages and Literatures from Around the World"










Wednesday, July 19, 2023

En plein air, reading in Fort Tryon Park

Summer Blossoms, Poetry & Jazz annual series in Fort Tryon Park, in Northern Manhattan was postponed to July 17 due to heavy rains. 

Featured authors included Jasmine Hardy, Shaquan Brown, Jane LeCroy, Lola Koundakjian and Madeline Millan. Jazz was performed by members of the Jazz WaHi. The program was in memory of Nereida Delgado.

Photo courtesy of Rick Strong



Saturday, May 27, 2023

Readings in May

 Lola Koundakjian participated in an anniversary reading for her publisher, Nueva York Poetry Press.











Friday, April 21, 2023

National Poetry Month

 





In April 2023, Lola Koundakjian volunteered at the Washington Irving Educational Campus, teaching three poetry writing, reading and appreciation classes.