Matthew Karanian to Present ‘Armenia and Karabakh’ in New Britain

NEW BRITAIN, Conn.—On Sun., Sept. 22, the two Armenian churches of New Britain will jointly host Atty. Matthew Karanian for a photographic slide show and talk featuring his latest book, Armenia and Karabakh: The Stone Garden Travel Guide.

Karanian will tell the story of how he and co-author Robert Kurkjian created Armenia’s first travel guide more than a decade ago, and how that guide has grown and evolved through three editions to become the award-winning book that was recently released.

According to Karanian, the book was created to introduce Armenia to Armenians and non-Armenians alike who might otherwise not be familiar with the country, or who might be intimidated about traveling to such a distant and unfamiliar land.

“The beauty of Armenia never ceases to amaze me,” Karanian says. “I want to do what I can to help share it with as many people as possible.”

Armenia and Karabakh: The Stone Garden Travel Guide is a comprehensive 320-page guide book that features 150 color photographs and 30 detailed color maps. It is now the top-selling Armenia title in bookstores and on Amazon.com. Further details are available online at www.ArmeniaTravelGuide.com.

The latest edition was released earlier this year, and was featured in an April 28 story in the Los Angeles Times that included an interview with Karanian. The Times told the story of how Karanian had a “wild idea” to travel to Armenia in 1995, and described the book that ultimately resulted as “a fresh view on ancient Armenia.”

The presentation will be held at 12:30 p.m. at the Armenian Church of the Holy Resurrection, 1910 Stanley St., New Britain. The event is co-sponsored by St. Stephen’s Armenian Apostolic Church of New Britain. There is plenty of off-street parking and the church is handicapped-accessible. This is Karanian’s only book presentation in Connecticut. Admission to the event is free and the public is invited. The author will be available to sign copies of the book at the event.