BELMONT, Mass. — The National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) will host a literary evening titled “Poets in Conversation” with authors Susan Barba and Shahé Mankerian on Tuesday, May 17, 2022, at 7:30 p.m., in Batmasian Hall on the third floor of the NAASR Vartan Gregorian Building, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA. The program will be moderated by Dr. Lisa Gulesserian of Harvard University’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (NELC).

This will be an in-person event and also presented online live via Zoom and YouTube. For those attending in person, NAASR recommends the wearing of masks to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Susan Barba is the author of geode (2020), which was a finalist for both the Massachusetts Book Awards and the New England Book Awards, and Fair Sun (2017), which was awarded the Anahid Literary Prize from Columbia University. Her poems have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, The New York Review of Books, Poetry, Raritan, and elsewhere. Her poetry has been translated into German, Armenian, Romanian and Swedish. She earned her doctorate in comparative literature from Harvard University, and she has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and Yaddo. She works as a senior editor for New York Review Books. She currently serves on the NAASR Board of Directors.

Shahé Mankerian is the principal of St. Gregory Hovsepian School and the director of mentorship at the International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA). His debut book of poems History of Forgetfulness (2021) has been a finalist at the Bibby First Book Competition, the Crab Orchard Poetry Open Competition, the Quercus Review Press Poetry Book Award, and the White Pine Press Poetry Prize.