Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Lola Koundakjian on her latest book

"In 2020, Nueva York Poetry Press published my third poetry collection, The Moon in the Cusp of my Hand. I enjoy the small things in life such as orchids and long walks in the woods, where I watch the birds and say hello to various small mammals preparing for hibernation.

What Covid-19 has done is make us aware that these are wonderful habits to go back to, that this new-normal is okay. 

As Flaubert famously wrote to Turgenev in 1877: At times, it feels like I am being drained of blood from all limbs and that my death is imminent. And then I spring back, and off I go. (translation from the French by LK). These observations, and my passion for arts and culture, made me a poet after many years dedicated to the visual arts and they are evident in my third collection of poetry published earlier this year in English with Spanish translations. 

I have been nourished with a storyteller’s spirit thanks to my parents, who knew how to live, to travel, and especially, how to be curious. Our homes in Beirut, and later in New York City, were filled with books. 

In this collection’s first section, An Anthropology of Emotions, I tackle my mother's Alzheimer’s, the imprints of New York City, my neighborhood and the quotidian of my life. The second section, Traveling around the Sun in the speed of Life, is about my love of discovery, of other cultures, the loss of my heritage -- which unfortunately continues to be pillaged with a war between the Republic of Armenia and its neighboring Azerbaijan -- and my activism for Peace. The book is dedicated to Teachers, Poets and Lovers, for we are nothing in this Life, without them.” 

Sunday, November 08, 2020

Reading for ARTS for Artsakh


 


















The full program is below:
https://www.armenianinstitute.org.uk/events/arts-for-artsakh


Thursday, October 22, 2020

Inaugural reading HyeBread magazine

Join us on Thursday, October 22, 2020 at 5:45 pm PST on Zoom for HyeBred’s first ever virtual reading, in promotion of our eighth issue but more importantly to raise funds for Armenia and Artsakh, currently beset by war and foreign aggression. 


Reading part 1
1. Maria Sarkisian
2. Aram Krikorian
3. Sarkis Kavarian
4. Celeste Snowber
5. Kristin Anahit Cass
6. Vee Adamyan
7. Ella Chakarian
8. Marine Ashnalikyan
9. Arminé Iknadossian&
10. Narine Ashnalikyan
11. Kayiane Maranian
12. Arthur Kayzakian
13. Jack Chavoor
14. Karine Eurdekian: Kooyrigs
15. Evelyn: Amplify Armenia

Reading part 2
1. John Danho
2. Mikayla Arsenian
3. Olga Yatsenka reading on behalf of Rebecca Yeghiazaryan&
4. Nvard Tadevosyan
5. Elizabeth Mkhitarian
6. Araxie Cass
7. Emma E. Shooshan
8. Sebouh Oshagan
9. Lena Halteh
10. Talin Fakhoorian Hazrati
11. Galia&Khosravian
12. Seroun Mouradian&
13. Lola Koundakjian
14. Natalie Simonian
15. Garnik Galstian
16. Alan Semerdjian





Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Reading with the International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA)

Lola Koundakjian will participate in a reading organized by the International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA) on Saturday, October 17th at 3:00 PM Eastern. 

This is the second installment of Don't Look Away, a literary series raising awareness and funds for #Artsakh, featuring Arthur Kayzakian, Lola Koundakjian, Mashinka F. Hakopian, Armen Davoudian, Nairi Hakhverdi, Alene Terzian and Alan Semerdjian.


Click here to register: http://bit.ly/ArtsakhSeries2



Friday, August 28, 2020

Poetry Workshop (virtual) at London's Armenian Institute

Bringing the Emigrant Experience into Poetry: Resilience During Transition
Lola Koundakjian will be teaching next month a virtual poetry workshop (aka Studio). Organized by the Armenian Institute in London, it will be held Saturday, September 9, 3:00-5:00 PM local time.

Lola Koundakjian, born in Beirut, lives in New York City where she regularly reads her work. An invitee to international poetry festivals including Medellin, Lima, Ramallah, Trois-Rivières and Santiago, she appeared for a second time in Medellin’s thirtieth anniversary’s virtual celebration on August 19, 2020.

Lola co-curates a poetry reading series at the Zohrab Information Center in midtown Manhattan and since 2006, has promoted Armenian culture with texts, translations and audio for the Armenian Poetry Project. She is the author of The Accidental Observer (2011 USA), Advice to a Poet (2014 Peru; 2015 USA) and The Moon in the Cusp of My Hand (La luna en la cuspide de mi mano) Nueva York Poetry Press (2020).

Fees are
£12 pounds per person
£10 pounds concessions

All instruction will be done on Zoom.

Please pay and register here.