CAS Guest Lecture. Writing Waterline: Patterns in Contemporary Armenian Diaspora Narratives

Abstract: As a young artist beginning to write about my Armenian ethnicity, I became fascinated with the conventions and recommendations editors used to mediate my stories and essays. This became a central question in proposing and editing the anthology We Are All Armenian: Voices from the Diaspora and in drafting my debut novel, Waterline. This talk will explore navigating the process of writing about the diasporan Armenian experience in literary fiction and nonfiction today, and my intentionality in disrupting traditional narrative patterns in the publishing industry.

Bio: Aram Mrjoian is the managing editor of Michigan Quarterly Review and a 2022 Creative Armenia-AGBU Fellow. He is the author of the novel Waterline and the editor of the anthology We Are All Armenian: Voices from the Diaspora. His writing has appeared in the Guardian, Runner’s World, Literary Hub, Catapult, West Branch, Electric Literature, Gulf Coast, Boulevard, Joyland, Longreads, and many other publications. He lives in Michigan.

Zoom: 913 4101 8434
https://umich.zoom.us/j/91341018434

Accommodation: If there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact us. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange.
Email: -- armenianstudies@umich.edu

Co-sponsors:
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR)