The International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA) has awarded $2,500 to Nevdon Jamgochian for his work-in-progress, Intercessoress of Snakes, and $3,000 each to Maral Aktokmakyan to translate Heranoush Arshagyan’s Lusnyag «Լուսնեակ», Rupen Janbazian to translate Souren Chekijian’s Half-Drawn «Անաւարտ դիմանկար» and Nazareth Seferian to translate Secret of the Dragon Stone: Stone’s End «Վիշապաքարի գաղտնիքը․ Քարի վերջը» by Artavazd Yeghiazaryan.
IALA has also announced runners up for its 2025 Creative Writing Grant – applicants who hold great promise: Karen Babayan and Lena Dakessian Halteh.
Nevdon Jamgochian is an artist whose practice in painting, film and text explores cross-cultural narratives, memory and heritage. He holds an MFA in Painting with Outstanding Achievement from SCAD. His work has been exhibited internationally for over two decades, including at the Museum of Modern Art in Yerevan. His film was featured at Lincoln Center’s Armenians in Film series, and his writing has appeared in Hyperallergic and the Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies, among other publications.
Jamgochian maintains a practice as an icon painter for the Armenian Apostolic Church while teaching fine art in West Africa, Europe, South and Southeast Asia, and currently East Asia. His current projects include oil paintings, short stories, a television series and a traveling exhibit that critically examines Turkish and Western perspectives of Anatolia. He can be found at @nevdon.bsky.social and @nevdonjamgochian on Instagram.
Maral Aktokmakyan is a scholar, writer and translator whose work centers on Western Armenian literature and its enduring creative legacy. She contributes to this legacy through her original writing, crafting essays, analysis and creative works that illuminate overlooked voices and literary traditions. In addition, she makes Armenian literature accessible to wider audiences through her translations (to and from Armenian, English and Turkish), preserving the nuance and richness of the original texts. Her research appears in both academic and literary venues, where she examines how literature carries memory, imagination and identity into new contexts. Through her writing, scholarship and translation efforts, Dr. Aktokmakyan is committed to expanding the visibility, vitality and future possibilities of Western Armenian literary art.
Rupen Janbazian is a writer, editor and translator from Toronto, currently based in Yerevan. He is the editor of Torontohye, a bilingual Armenian-English community print newspaper in Toronto, and the former editor of the Armenian Weekly. He writes in both English and (Western) Armenian, and his work often explores questions of homeland-diaspora, identity and community life between Canada and Armenia.
Janbazian has translated, co-translated and edited a range of literary works, memoirs, articles and short fiction. He is currently working on several original writing and translation projects. Among these is an English translation of his late friend Souren Chekijian’s novel Անաւարտ դիմանկար, for which he was awarded the 2025 IALA Israelyan Western Armenian Translation Grant. The novel is a Toronto-set Western Armenian work that examines exile, aging, desire and the inner world of a Lebanese-Armenian painter in Canada.
He lives in Yerevan with his partner, Araz, and their dog, Srjeni.
Nazareth Seferian was born in Canada, grew up in India and moved to Armenia in 1998, where he has been living ever since. His university education has not been specific to translation studies, but his love for languages led him to this work in 2001. He began literary translations in 2011 and his published works include translations of novels and short stories by Gurgen Khanjyan, Mushegh Galshoyan, Susanna Harutyunyan, Grig, Karine Khodikyan, Aram Pachyan, Levon Shahnur, Armen of Armenia (Ohanyan), Areg Azatyan, Avetik Mejlumyan, Anna Davtyan, Arman Aghlamazyan and more. Seferian’s typical work week includes activities in a completely different sector combined with several pages of translation. Driven by his desire to promote greater availability and recognition of Armenian culture for English speakers worldwide, one of Seferian’s dreams is to play a key role as the translator when an Armenian author wins a major international literature prize.
Karen Babayan is a multidisciplinary artist, writer and playwright. Born in Iran, she moved to the UK in 1978. Her well-established art career includes exhibitions in the UK, Armenia, Canada and Japan, and work in many public and private collections.
Her first book of short stories on the Armenians of Iran, Blood Oranges Dipped in Salt (2012) was born out of a Ph.D. in Contemporary Art Practice. Her first full-length theater production based on her second book of short stories, Swallows and Armenians (2019), toured venues in London and Leeds this year. It champions the Anglo-Armenian family from Aleppo who inspired English author Arthur Ransome to write a classic of children’s literature.
She is currently working on her first novel, set in historic Western Armenia/Eastern Turkey. Babayan lives near the English Lake District. Learn more at karenbabayan.com or on Substack at @karenbabayan and @babayan1654 on Instagram.
Lena Dakessian Halteh is a San Francisco–based writer, visual artist and storyteller. She holds a B.A. in English Literature and Art History and an M.J. in Journalism, all from the University of California, Berkeley. Her writing and artwork have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Al Jazeera’s AJ+, Chariot Press, Hyebred Magazine and Noor Magazine. She is a former multimedia reporting fellow at Al Jazeera’s AJ+. In 2019, she founded Pom + Peacock, an art and paper goods company showcasing her original fine art and illustrations. A dedicated performer and arts educator, Dakessian Halteh has trained and performed with ARAX Dance for two decades and now serves as the program’s artistic director. She is currently at work on her first novel. Alongside raising her three little ones, she continues to pursue storytelling across a range of literary and visual arts media. Learn more at lenahalteh.com or on Instagram at @lenahalteh.
The International Armenian Literary Alliance’s 2025 Creative Writing Grant, now in its fourth year, was awarded for a work of fiction. In previous years, IALA has also offered writing grants for poetry and creative nonfiction. The 2025 grant was judged by Chris McCormick, and was made possible by a generous donation from author Aline Ohanesian.
IALA’s 2025 Israelyan Eastern Armenian Translation Grant was awarded for a work of literature (in any literary genre) written in Eastern Armenian and published any time after 1915, including the Modernist and Contemporary periods. It was judged by Dr. Margarit Ordukhanyan, and was made possible by a generous donation from Souren A. Israelyan.
IALA’s 2025 Israelyan Western Armenian Translation Grant was awarded for a work of literature (in any literary genre) written in Western Armenian from any period. The grant was judged by Dr. Tamar Marie Boyadjian and Dr. Jennifer Manoukian, and was made possible by a generous donation from Souren A. Israelyan.
IALA also offered the 2025 Israelyan English Translation Grant, judged by Arevik Ashkharoyan and Dr. Shushan Avagyan, and made possible by Souren A. Israelyan. Based on IALA’s review criteria, however, the judges chose not to award the grant this year.
To learn more about IALA’s 2025 grants and past recipients, please visit: armenianliterary.org
