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PRESS RELEASE
Monday, May 24, 2004
A “CALIFORNIA HARVEST” YIELDS NEW CROP OF TALENT
New York – ARARAT’s fall 2003 issue examines the talents emerging
from America’s West Coast, where Armenians have a long history in the
arts. Entitled, “California Harvest,” the collection gathers together
the work of 20 writers and artists.
Edited by awarding winning journalist, Mark Arax, and novelist
Aris Janigian, the special West Coast edition includes work by
established figures, including Aram Saroyan, Peter Najarian, and
Micheline Aharonian Marcom, along with a wealth of emerging talents,
including Michael Simonian, Armen Hogtanian, Daniel Melnick, Jeanette
Arax Melnick, Silva Dakessian, Shahé Mankerian, Vic Jabrassian and
David Mushgain.
The special issue includes an exclusive excerpt from the
much-anticipated release of Markar Melkonian’s memoir/biography,
Terrorist, Saint, that tells the complicated and intense story of his
brother, Monte Melkonian, a figure renowned as a freedom fighter and
champion of the Armenian cause.
Other works include Simonian’s radical “24110,” which as the editors’
note, “provocatively centers a nuclear waste disposal site near the
Capital Mall in Washington,” a short story by Saroyan that takes a
satirical look at Hollywood life, Janigian’s correspondence with the
L.A. Times over their use of the term “alleged” in reference to the
Armenian Genocide, and the emotionally charged images of Jabrassian
that form a stark contrast with the coolness of Mushgain’s photography.
Arax and Janigian have gathered together a bounty of works that reflect
a new multifaceted reality. The coeditors write in their introduction:
“Today, Armenian-Americans have committed themselves to artistic
propositions that feel unparalleled in their scope and depth, and
one cannot help sensing that this vitality is the first stirring
of a renaissance the likes of which we may not have seen since the
Turks swept away the great generation of Varoujans and Siamantos in
the Genocide.”
Available through AGBU, copies of ARARAT’s California Harvest can be
ordered by phone, 212.319.6383, or email, [email protected]. Individual
issues are $7. Since 1960, ARARAT Quarterly has been a leading voice
in Armenian-American writing, culture and ideas. Published by AGBU,
ARARAT showcases established and emerging talent with an interest in
representing the richness of the Armenian experience in America and
around the world.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
