Sunday, April 27, 2025 at 4 PM EST

In-Person at the Armenian Cultural Foundation, 441 Mystic Street (Route 3), Arlington, MA

FEATURED SPEAKER:

Narine Abgaryan, named one of Europe’s most exciting authors by The Guardian, is the author of a dozen books, which have collectively sold over 1.35 million copies. Her book Three Apples Feel From the Sky (Oneworld, 2020) won the Leo Tolstoy Yasnaya Polyana Award and an English PEN Award, and has been translated into 27 languages.

Wars affect human life in the profoundest and most irreversible ways. How does one reconcile the pain of witnessing, survival, and loss? Armenian writer Narine Abgaryan’s short story collection "To Go On Living" (2018) sets out to explore potential answers. Unfolding in an Armenian mountain village in the immediate aftermath of the 1990s Nagorno-Karabakh War, the thirty-one short stories trace the interconnected lives and struggles of villagers who tend to their everyday tasks, engage in quotidian squabbles, and celebrate small joys against a breathtaking landscape. "Writing about war," Abgaryan writes, "is like destroying your hope, like looking death in the face without looking away, because, if you do, you will betray yourself."

The book presentation will be in Armenian and English. A reception will follow the presentation.

CO-SPONSORS:

Amaras Art Alliance

NAASR

AIWA

Plough Publishing House