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"

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

Readings in May

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

National Poetry Month

 

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

Reading at the Bowery Poetry Club

 

Lola Koundakjian will be participating in a multilingual reading at the Bowery Poetry Club, in a reading series named SE BUSCAN POETAS.

March 1, 2023, 6:30PM
308 Bowery
New York, NY 10012

Contemporary Armenian Poetry published in Hungarian

 

Poets included in this anthology are: Husik Ara, Vahe Arsen, Anush Aslibekyan, Nerses Atabekyan, Shushan Avagyan, Peter Balakian, Krikor Beledian, Tatev Chakhian, Diramerján Artin, Keith Garebian, Eduard Harents, Anahit Hayrapetyan, Lola Koundakjian, Vahram Martirosyan, Noushik Mikayelian, Anna Muradyan, Nora Nadjarian, Hermine Navasardyan, Marine Petrossian, Armen Shekoyan

More on this book and its editor may be found in this article. 

Group reading in London CELEBRATING POETRY & FRIENDSHIP

 

Lola Koundakjian will be reading in London by invitation of Sudeep Sen who is visiting England



CELEBRATING POETRY & FRIENDSHIP
NOVEMBER 23, 2022 (WEDNESDAY) 6:00-8:30PM
38 Harmood Street, London NW1 8DP

Live reading at Hunter College: Rizoma Literario

Lola Koundakjian (ARMENIA) and Jacqueline Loweree (MÉXICO) participated in a live reading on FB and Youtube. 

Participation in Buenos Aires' International Poetry Festival

Lola Koundakjian was an invited poet at the XVI FIP Festival Internacional de Poesía de Buenos Aires. 

Lola read her Armenian poems three times during the festival: 

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12 at  the Inauguration of the FIP, Usina del Arte Agustín R. Caffarena 1, C1157 CABA.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14TH in the gardens of Museo Sívori Av. Infanta Isabel 555 

SATURDAY OCTOBER 15 18:00 h. at the closing ceremony at the Society of Writers of Argentina -SEA-. Bartolomé Mitre 2815, 2nd floor, offices 226 to 230 

Ana Arzoumanian was the reader of the Spanish translations. 

A Literary Evening: Armenian Writers in New York

Join the Zohrab Information Center and the International Armenian Literary Alliance for an in-person literary evening on August 23, 2022 at 7:00 pm ET, to hear Armenian writers read from their short stories, novels, poetry and nonfiction.

Readers include Aida Zilelian, Alan Semerdjian, Garen Torikian, Jesse Arlen, Lola Koundakjian, Nadia Owusu, Nancy Agabian, Nancy Kricorian, and Olivia Katrandjian. A wine and cheese reception will follow.



At Guild Hall of the Armenian Diocese, 630 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10016

Podcast in New York: Poetry! What is it good for?

Lola had a lot of fun participating in this podcast, with fellow authors Anton Yakovlev and Rachel Aydt

To hear the podcast click on this link!

SUMMER BLOSSOMS: POETRY & JAZZ

July 10 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Free

Event Navigation


Join the Fort Tryon Park Trust, poets, and Jazz WaHI for an afternoon of music and spoken word. Hear poetry inspired by Fort Tryon Park by local poets and participants of Uptown Stories. A jazz quintet of piano, bass, drums, saxophone, and a vocalist will perform in celebration of summer. This concert is in honor of Nereida Delgado.

2:00 p.m. Poetry readings
2:30 p.m. Jazz concert
Featured poets include:
Jane LeCroy
Christopher Atamian
Lola Koundakjian
Ellen Hagan
Student poets from Uptown Stories
Rain date: July 17

Website:

forttryonparktrust.org

Reading Daniel Varoujan's work

Lola Koundakjian participated in a virtual reading for Peace held at Piccolo Museo della Poesia Chiesa di San Cristoforo and on Zoom on March 27, 2022. 

Lola read Antasdan by Daniel Varoujan in Armenian and English. 

POETS BUILDING BRIDGES DAY

On Sat Mar 13 2022, Armenia was on the program of the prestigious Poets Building Bridges: A World Poetry Day Triangulation Project.

Led by MC George Wallace and comperes Antje Stehn and Lola Koundakjian, this event was hosted by Cultivating Voices Live Poetry and Don Krieger.

The Youtube video can be accessed here.



Order of presentation:

Mar 13, 2022

00:00:05 Welcome - George Wallace, Don Krieger Piacenza, Italy - compere: Antje Stehn 00:02:50 Introduction - Antje Stehn 00:05:00 Viviana Fiorentino 00:12:10 Sabrina De Canio, Piccolo Museo della Poesia Chiesa di San Cristoforo, Piacenza 00:18:50 Mauro Ferrari 00:24:00 Antje Stehn 00:27:00 musician Oscar Brontesi 00:28:45 musician Betty Gilmore, Simone Doniselli The Armenian diaspora - compere: Lola Koundakjian 00:43:10 Introduction - Lola Koundakjian 00:44:30 Nora Nadjarian 00:53:40 Arthur Kayzakjian 01:02:00 Lola Koundakjian 01:08:30 Aram Bajakian New York City - Compere: George Wallace 01:17:40 Introduction - George Wallace 01:19:00 Don Krieger 01:28:50 Francine Witte 01:36:40 Karen Neuberg 01:45:30 musician Tom Gould, Pat Giles 01:54:10 closing - George Wallace

Neuronautic Institute reading at KGB Bar NYC

March 24th, 2022 - 7:00 PM - 12:00 AM





Just come on in! It's March and all the ol' in/out should have you wanting poetry.

We have 3 features, each with something to say:

David Belmont
Pete Dolack
Lola Koundakjian (Լօլա Գունտաքճեան)

& of course, as always, the most vibrant open mic you could hope for.

Bios:

DAVID BELMONT is a mixed media artist and community organizer. He writes poetry, memoir and short fiction. World Gone Zoom: Notes from the American Epicenter, his debut poetry collection, was published by The Poetry Box in May 2021. Other writing has appeared in The Poeming Pigeon, Wildflower Muse and FishFood Magazine. David has been a professional musician for over 50 years, producing 26 albums of his own work. His CD WindWater Excursions spent 8 months on the New Age Voice Top 100 Airplay List and was in heavy rotation on the syndicated radio program Echoes. He is currently the co-music director of the Castillo Theatre on West 42nd Street. He lives on the Upper West Side with visual artist Kim Svoboda and their labradoodle Penelope.


PETE DOLACK is an activist, poet, writer and photographer who wishes he could keep all those balls in the air but, alas, keeps dropping some of them. When he is wearing his poet’s hat, he is the author of the chapbook And Now A Word From Our Sponsors, and writes about space, time, travel and the sad state of the world through satire. Pete’s poetry has been published in 35 publications, including Will Work For Peace anthology, Poetrybay, Blue Collar Review, Lummox, Appleseeds anthology and Tribes. When he is wearing a different hat, Pete writes the Systemic Disorder blog and is the author of the book It's Not Over: Learning From the Socialist Experiment.

LOLA KOUNDAKJIAN is a writer, editor and translator born in Beirut, Lebanon and living in New York City since 1979. After pursuing degrees in Fine Arts and History, Lola honed her skills as an editorial board member at the Ararat Literary Quarterly. She has four poetry collections in Armenian and English. She runs the Dead Armenian Poetry Society and the online Armenian Poetry Project. Since 2010, she read at five international poetry festivals. Her work appears in various journals and international anthologies. www.lolakoundakjian.com

Have a cocktail

Have a listen

Join in if you're so inclined

see you there

As always this is 21 and up, and now Vaccine proof is required, boosters preferred, and masks suggested. We want these events to be as safe as possible to everyone involved.

no cover, 2 drink minimum.

Note: this is NOT an accessible venue, it is up 1 flight of stairs




KGB bar

85 e 4th st

NYC

I hope to see you there, this month, and every month that follows.

December 2nd reading at the Zohrab Center in New York

New York region Armenian poets will celebrate  Shahé Mankerian’s debut poetry collection History of Forgetfulness

Nancy Agabian, Christopher Atamian, Alina Gregorian, Alan Semerdjian, Alina Gharabegian, & Lola Koundakjian will be reading

December 2nd (Thursday), 7:00pm ET IN PERSON

Zohrab Center 

630 Second Avenue

New York, NY 10016-4885

Hamazkayin Eastern Region announces winners of Tölölyan Prize

The Eastern Region Executive of Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Society is proud to 
announce the following winners of the 2021 Minas and Kohar Tölölyan Prize in Contemporary Literature: Dr. Karenn Chutjian Presti for her children’s book in Western Armenian Աստղիկը կ՚)զէ արագ ﬔծնալ and Lola Koundakjian for her bilingual (English and Spanish) collection of poems entitled The moon in the cusp of my hand.

Dr. Presti is an award-winning author, musician, teacher, performer and lecturer at UCLA H. Alpert School of Music. She currently arranges, composes, improvises and plays for the Redondo Ballet. Dr. Presti earned her masters and doctorate degrees at USC, where she was also awarded the Koldofsky  Memorial Music Scholarship, the Briggs Memorial Music Scholarship and the Recognition for Excellence in Collaborative Piano. She graduated with her bachelors degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she was also the recipient of numerous scholarships. Dr. Presti’s musicological work began with her dissertation under Dr. Richard Dekmejian, “The Reality of Social Realism: Socialist Realism and Its Application to Soviet Armenian Composers.” She lectures on nationalism in music and the history of Armenian music.

Koundakjian is an award winning poet, editor and artist living in New York. She is also the founder of the Armenian Poetry Project. In 2020, Nueva York Poetry Press published Koundakjian’s third volume of poetry, The Moon in the Cusp of My Hand/La lune en la cúspide de mi mano. Her poetry has appeared in many journals and has been translated into Arabic, Ukrainian, Asturian, French, Italian and Spanish. Koundakjian holds a masters degree from Columbia University and has participated in many conferences. Her papers have been published in various conference proceedings.

Named after one of the major Armenian literary critics of the second half of the 20th century and his wife, a devoted teacher of that literature for decades, the annually awarded Minas and Kohar Tölölyan Prize in Contemporary Literature recognizes the work produced by talented writers working in North America.

The prize is intended to encourage new work in all the major genres of literary production, as they are
currently understood in North America.

Reading at Fort Tryon Park in Northern Manhattan

 Lola Koundakjian will be participating in, 

AUTUMN LEAVES, JAZZ & POETRY

October 17 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm Free

at Fort Tryon Park, Northern Manhattan

Poetry Readings: 2:00 to 2:45 p.m.

Concert: 3:00 p.m.

Lola Koundakjian joins first ever IALA mentorship program

Lola Koundakjian is serving as a poetry mentor over the course of this summer, beginning July 5, 2021. IALA matched eleven authors to mentees. 

To read more about IALA and its first ever mentorship program, click here.