Current Year

Haig Utidjian will trace the evolution of the chants over time and provide a coherent framework for analysis, reconstruction and interpretation—raising substantial challenges that transcend the milieu of the island.

Literary Lights 2026 resumes this fall with an event featuring Sarah Ignatius, author of the critically acclaimed novel The Kaleidoscope of Destiny, in conversation with award-winning writer and multidisciplinary artist Dana Mashoian Walrath. The year is 1915. Fourteen-year-old Arakel dreams of traveling the Silk Road with his two best friends—until the Armenian Genocide tears his world apart. Forced into exile across Syria, he must rely on strangers he once considered enemies to survive. With an elegance that reaffirms our collective humanity, The Kaleidoscope of Destiny reveals the courage, hope, and ingenuity to survive the darkest of times during an often-overlooked...

Delivered on the third anniversary of Azerbaijan’s capture of Stepanakert, this lecture investigates Baku’s ongoing construction of “Western Azerbaijan” through archival research and Frederick Barghoorn’s largely forgotten concept of “synthetic memory.”

Pulitzer Prize winning poet Peter Balakian will discuss the impact of the Armenian Genocide on his work. He will explore the transmission of trauma across generations and how poetry’s resources can ingest the past. Balakian examines how his ancestors have provided a grounding for his work.

See the beauty of our planet through fresh eyes with the animals and other creatures in David Kherdian and Nonny Hogrogian's The Animal. We'll learn all about Armenian-American writer and poet David Kherdian, read a story,  and do an animal craft. 

Join us for the final presentations of the inaugural cohort of NAASR's NextGen summer program! Over three weeks, ten high school students have worked in close, project-driven study with Professor Lisa Gulesserian and guest scholars from leading universities. Their study has moved from ancient and medieval Armenian civilization through the global diaspora to the hardest questions of the present: genocide and its denial, the loss of Artsakh, and the pursuit of justice. Along the way they have developed skills in media literacy, research fluency, coding, graphic design, and effective writing. This evening they present the result of their work, a digital...

Armenia's health system is at a structural inflection point. In 2026, Armenia launched Universal Health Care, the most consequential health-system reform in the country's history since independence. To deliver on that promise, Armenia has committed to a range of transformational advances, including a competency-based medical education model. Hear from seven Armenian physician-educators driving this change, all candidates in the Boston University Master’s in Health Professsions Education program and leaders in their departments and institutions in Armenia. For more information, visit https://www.bumc.bu.edu/armenia.

Spend a summer morning in the Library with two of children's literature's most beloved friends. Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad stories come to life through read-aloud storytelling, along with crafts and games inspired by the books. Presented in English by NAASR and the Belmont Public Library. Free and open to all; children ages 3 and up are welcome with an accompanying adult.

At a time when Armenia faces profound political, social, and geopolitical challenges, questions of national identity have become increasingly urgent. How should Armenians understand the relationship between history, sovereignty, memory, and justice? What role does the Armenian Genocide continue to play in shaping contemporary political thought and collective identity? And what lies beyond recognition in the pursuit of reparative justice? Drawing on his extensive work in genocide studies, ethics, and Armenian political thought, Theriault will examine the enduring implications of genocide denial, the moral and legal foundations of reparative justice, and the ways in which these debates intersect with Armenia's...

Join us for the fourth installment of Literary Lights 2026 featuring Naira Kuzmich’s posthumous debut novel, Fearcatcher. Vedran Husić, author and Kuzmich’s former partner, will be joined by writers and editors Aram Mrjoian and Chelsey Kimberly Shannon.