Thursday, March 14, 2019

Readings at AWP, March 2019

Lola Koundakjian will be participating in two panels at the March 2019 conference of the American Writers Program in Portland, Oregon.

March 29, 2019, 12:00-1:15PM
F149, Oregon Convention Center, Level 1
PANEL DISCUSSION F204. Diana's Diaspora: Diana Der-Hovanessian's Influence on Armenian American Writers. (Arminé Iknadossian, Nancy Agabian, Lory Bedikian, Shahé Mankerian, Lola Koundakjian) F149, Oregon Convention Center, Level 1.
Diana Der-Hovanessian, a renowned poet, translator, mentor, and cultural leader, opened a door for Armenian Americans to read and write themselves into being. Armenian American writers read and discuss her work, share insights about her character through anecdote and memory, and analyze her impact on American poetry, translation, and Armenian culture. A year after her death, they look at her legacy to inspire the future of Armenian poetry, including her emphasis on poetry by and for women.



E145, Oregon Convention Center, Level 1
READING S265. Permanent Longing: Connecting Across Borders in Writing About Lost Homelands. (Patricia Clark, Patricia Jabbeh Wesley, Richard Robbins, Lola Koundakjian) E145, Oregon Convention Center, Level 1.
Four poets, two with international ties (Liberia, Pakistan; one US born, one not) living and writing in the US heartland and two from the West Coast now living and writing elsewhere in the US will read poems illustrating how connected we are as writers despite difference: joined by themes of separation, memory, tradition, what is lost and also recovered through examining place and family. Our common language illustrates these themes and offers both insight and solace across cultural lines.

In addition, Lola will participate at a bookstore reading with fellow Armenian authors.