Event Videos — IALA

Featured Speakers: Peter Balakian Diana Arterian Date:  Sunday February 8, 2026 1:00 PM Eastern | 10:00 AM Pacific   About:  Join us for the launch of Literary Lights 2026 featuring Peter Balakian, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of New York Trilogy, in conversation with writer, critic, editor and translator, Diana Arterian.  In an inventive, elliptical language, New York Trilogy explores one man’s journey from the late 1960s to the twenty-first century, as he moves through a series of experiences centered in New York City and the surrounding New Jersey Palisades. Throughout this long poem in three parts, the protagonist’s life is impacted by historical events including the Armenian Genocide,...

AILA's Literary Lights 2025 reading series returns with an event featuring Aram Mrjoian, editor and author of Waterline, in conversation with award-winning writer Chris McCormick.

Our June edition of Literary Lights 2025 reading series features Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian, professor, curator and author of Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature, in conversation with award-winning writer Nancy Kricorian. 

With Nostalgia for the Future: New and Selected Poems, 1984-2023, award-winning poet Gregory Djanikian returns to the literary scene with a collection that spans and celebrates his prolific career.

Nanore Barsoumian and Nancy Kricorian will be discussing Kricorian’s new novel The Burning Heart of the World.

Join us for a thought-provoking conversation exploring these questions with contributors to Wasafiri Magazine’s special issue, Armenia(n)s – Elevation.

Highlighting the launch of our reading series, Literary Lights 2025, featuring Wasafiri Magazine’s special “Armenia(n)s – Elevation” issue editors and contributors.