Books & Art

In late spring 1992, Los Angeles seized and erupted. This time it wasn’t an earthquake or wildfire or landslide from flood—“natural disasters” that came with the Southern California turf, so to speak—but a “social disaster” that nobody could have foreseen. Writers wisely advise other writers, …

The popular Ethiopian song form, “Tezeta,” shares the name of Aramazt Kalayjian’s documentary on the Ethio-Armenian contributions to the musical culture of Ethiopia. The documentary features interviews with Ethiopian-Armenians and ethnic Ethiopians alike, concert footages, and archival footage and photographs. Kalayjian aims to bring the story …

Raffi Joe (Wartanian) is quite the Renaissance man—a Fulbright research fellow, multi-platform writer, musician, actor, activist, and now a recording artist with his debut album, “Pushkin Street,” which features 11 original songs that he wrote himself. The “gypsy zest” style has been described as a …

By Tavit Minassian Mention Rouben Mamoulian and most people will respond with a blank stare. But mention what the director did on Broadway and in Hollywood, and those same faces light up in recognition. Mamoulian directed the premieres of such groundbreaking musicals as “Oklahoma,” “Carousel,” …

The spent northern sun sways Like a fireless crucible of ashes Over these square structures, This endless stretch of the past… Below, the dreary Neva yawns Drifting on with sulky debility – And the weary city of yore, Frozen in the mist like a mirage …

The cover of Transnational Culture, Transnational Identity In her new book Transnational Culture, Transnational Identity (I.B. Tauris, 2011), Maria Koundoura, associate professor of literature at Emerson College, breaks new ground in her comparative analysis of Peter Balakian’s Black Dog of Fate, Orhan Pamuk’s Istanbul, and …

An Interview with Talin Avakian A recent graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt), Talin Avakian is already making strides in the film industry. Her senior thesis, a 30-minute film titled “Demi Pointe,” chronicles a young girl’s struggles with a speech disorder. …

The Armenian Review recently announced the publication of a special issue about “The New Global Reparations Movement,” the growing movement to require reparations for cases of mass human rights violation. The cover of the special issue. Professor Henry Theriault of Worcester State University is the …

I love to walk. I can walk for hours and hours in New York City, my current home. My great-grandmother Lucine loved to walk. In the mid- to late-1950′s, she would walk for miles and miles through Aleppo and into the outskirts with my toddler …

While doing research on the uses of political violence by “non-state actors” for my second novel Dreams of Bread and Fire, I came across a 1984 French documentary entitled “Terrorists in Retirement” (original title “Des terroristes à la retraite”). It told the story of a …