Dead Armenian Poets Society
Ahead of our celebration on May 2nd of Armenian Poetry Project’s 15th anniversary with the International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA), our director Tatevik Ayvazyan chats with founder and poet, Lola Koundakjian about the origins of the Dead Poet's Society; her background, inspirations and works; the importance of translating Armenian poetry into other languages; trying to find Orpheus in the New York City subway and Rainer Maria Rilke's midlife crisis. Lola shares with us a few of her beautiful poems in both Armenian and English, in anticipation of our online event this Sunday May 2nd: https://bit.ly/3dRqZem You can find Lola’s Armenian Poetry Project here: https://armenian-poetry.blogspot.com/ You can find the International Armenian Literary Alliance here: https://armenianliterary.org Poet and artist Lola Koundakjian was born in Beirut and is now based in New York City, and writes in her native Armenian as well as English. Lola is an energetic activist for poetry, gathering people together for workshops and events, spreading her love of the art form. She is widely published with poems appearing in journals and websites as well as her own publications. For 25 years she has organized readings dedicated to the “Dead Armenian Poets’ Society” and has worked on editing written and audio texts for the multilingual “Armenian Poetry Project” since 2006. Lola has read her poetry at festivals and events around the United States, South American, Europe, and Armenia. The Armenian Institute is a London based charity dedicated to making Armenian culture and history a lived experience through innovative programmes, educational resources, workshops, lectures, exhibits and performances. This year we present Zanazan: an umbrella title covering our upcoming media output, from online publications to podcast series. Zanazan Sounds is a project that aims to explore shared histories, learn about contemporary Armenian worlds and create new ones. Zanazan (meaning “variety” in Armenian) is also the title of our latest online publication where photo essays, articles and poetry from around the world can be found. We aim to publish 2-3 episodes a month, taking a different angle each week as we explore our three podcasting strands: Discover, Treasures From The Library and Uncover. You can follow our social media accounts for updates in between episodes. To get involved with AI you can find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you’d like to reach out, or to discuss anything you’ve heard in this series, feel free to email us anytime at [email protected]