AWP Offsite event with Armenian-American Poets

AWP offsite events are free and open to the public, so join us in welcoming this group of Armenian-American poets to Portland!

Arminé Iknadossian’s debut poetry collection, All That Wasted Fruit, addresses the sacred feminine. Cofounder of Outside the Lines: A Creative Collaborative for Women, Arminé also leads Poetry in the Labyrinth at The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles and performs her poems for The Poetry Brothel.

Nancy Agabian is the author of Princess Freak, a poetry/performance collection, and Me as her again: True Stories of an Armenian Daughter, a memoir. Her novel, The Fear of Large and Small Nations, was a finalist for the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially-Engaged Fiction. She teaches writing at NYU.

Lory Bedikian’s The Book of Lamenting won the Philip Levine Prize for Poetry. She has an MFA from the University of Oregon. Her work was a finalist for the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry and for the AROHO’s Orlando Prize. She received a grant from the Money for Women/Barbara Deming Memorial fund.

Shahé Mankerian’s poetry collection, History of Forgetfulness, has been a finalist for the Bibby First Book Award, the Crab Orchard Series, the Quercus Award, and the White Pine Press Competition. He is the co-director of the L.A. Writing Project and the principal of St. Gregory Hovsepian School.

Lola Koundakjian has authored two poetry books and read in four international poetry festivals in Quebec, Peru, Colombia and West Bank. She co-curates the Zohrab Center’s poetry reading series in midtown Manhattan, and runs the Armenian Poetry Project in multiple languages and audio.

Veronica Pamoukaghlian has written, edited, and translated a variety of literary works, including New York Times bestsellers. She has contributed to anthologies and print journals, and has her own book of poetry, The Beauty of Disaster.