From Christopher Atamian

Christopher Atamian

Christopher Atamian is a New York-based writer, filmmaker, translator and editor. He has written for leading publications such as The New York Press, The Huffington Post, The New Criterion and The New York Times Book Review and concentrated exclusively on Armenian culture and history in a previous column at www.yevrobatsi.com. His first book of verse, “A Poet in Washington Heights” was nominated for a National Book Award and received the 2017-18 Tololyan Literary Prize. He has translated five books from French and Armenian and most recently co-edited a volume on Bedros Keljik, "Armenian-American Sketches."

At a time of COVID 19 and chilling events in Armenia, a welcome respite may come in the form of a fun new murder mystery by one of our own. Tina Kashian grew up on the Jersey Shore where her parents owned an Armenian restaurant. Her inside[...]

It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance of this series of letters that journalist and human rights advocate Raffi Joe Wartanian has recently put out in Yerevan on Zangak Publishing House. Some 60 letters in all or 30 pairs of[...]

For a lover of the written word, nothing is more rewarding than discovering a new talent. Aram Pachyan is 37 years old, from Vanadzor, and studied law at Yerevan State. He is a columnist at Hraparak and writes the Lratvakan radio show. His[...]

Daniel Varoujan led a short and tragic life. Born into poverty in 1884 in the Prknig village of Sepasdia (Sivas), Varoujan studied at Venice’s Mourad-Rafaelian School before obtaining a scholarship to attend the University of Ghent in[...]

Feast of Ashes, by Sato Moughalian Redwood/Stanford University Press, 2019 Reviewed by Christopher Atamian Special to the Mirror-Spectator Born in 1884 in the village of Mouradchai outside of Eskishehir in Western Anatolia, David[...]

NEW YORK — Theater and opera director, producer and artistic director, young créateur extraordinaire, Arthur Makaryan is part of a small and hopefully growing coterie of Armenian-born artists who are taking their talents to the world[...]

NEW YORK — In early August, the Fresno-based writer and thinker Aris Janigian founded The Artifa.com, a new and welcome addition to the sometimes paralyzingly simplistic discussions on culture in contemporary America. Race, class,[...]

Special to the Mirror-Spectator NEW YORK — How did Armenians survive as a culture over the centuries despite almost constant warfare and persecution? One answer lies in being able to organize and show solidarity through various charities[...]

(Translated by Karen Jallatyan with editorial assistance by Alec Ekmekji; Marseille: Editions Thaddée, 207 pp.) History often comes down to us in the form of memorized acts and dates or else completely fictionalized as literary discourse.[...]

Special to the Mirror-Spectator Bared Maronian’s “Bloodless” relates the gripping story of the 2018 Velvet Revolution, which saw the overthrow of Serzh Sargsyan’s oligarchic regime in Yerevan. It is difficult to overstate the[...]

Tired of being cooped up in your apartment or suburban home? Watched every “Will and Grace” and “CSI Miami” rerun? Made fudge brownies a dozen times and re-alphabetized your life? Even jogging outdoors can get a wee bit creepy when[...]