AIWA, NAASR to Present Talk by Helene Pilibosian

The Armenian International Women’s Association (AIWA) and the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) will present a talk by Helene Pilibosian entitled “From Journalist to Poet and Memoirist” on Thurs., Aug. 11 at 8 p.m. at the NAASR Center, 395 Concord Ave. in Belmont, Mass.

Helene Pilibosian was born in Boston to Armenian immigrant parents. She graduated from Watertown High School, the Katharine Gibbs School, and Harvard University with an ADA (bachelor equivalent) in humanities. In 1964 she became the first woman editor of the Armenian Mirror-Spectator and later served as a writer/editor there for many years. After traveling widely in Europe and Lebanon, she now owns and operates Ohan Press and has published poems in such magazines as North American Review, Weber: The Contemporary West, Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies, Poetry Salzburg, and many others. Her early poetry was cited in Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature and she was awarded first prize from Writer’s Digest for her collection At Quarter Past Reality: New and Selected Poems and an honorable mention from that magazine for History’s Twists: The Armenians.

Pilibosian, who recently published her memoir entitled My Literary Profile, will present her journey from being a child of survivors of the Armenian Genocide to fighting depression, immersion in the Armenian American community, and literary explorations in later years. My Literary Profile is a valuable contribution to the literature on first-generation Armenian American life. The book is available at the NAASR bookstore and will be available for purchase and signing by the author the night of the event.

Admission to the event is free (donations appreciated). The NAASR Center is located opposite the First Armenian Church and next to the U.S. Post Office. Ample parking is available around the building and in adjacent areas. The lecture will begin promptly at 8 p.m.

For more information, contact NAASR by calling (617) 489-1610 or emailing hq@naasr.org, or contact AIWA by calling (617) 926-0171 or emailing aiwainc@aol.com.