IALA announces four annual grants for creative writing and literary translation for 2025

International Armenian Literary AllianceApril 28, 2025Last Updated: April 28, 2025

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Inside Abril Books (Photo: Melody Seraydarian)

The International Armenian Literary Alliance is pleased to announce its four annual grants for 2025 for creative writing and literary translation. Application opens on September 1st until September 30th, 2025, and four winners will receive $2,500-$3,000 each.

The International Armenian Literary Alliance’s Creative Writing Grant will award $2,500 annually to one Armenian writer whose work-in-progress shows exceptional literary and creative ability. After awarding poets and nonfiction writers in the past two years, the grant will be awarded for a work of creative fiction, for a second time, in 2025.

IALA’s Creative Writing Grant, made possible by a generous donation from Aline Ohanesian, is meant to foster the development of contemporary Armenian literature in English through an annual monetary award, and support Armenian writers who have historically lacked resources in the publishing world. Additionally, IALA will support grant recipients in promoting their publications through marketing on our website and social media channels, book reviews, readings and discussions.

“It is my hope that the stories born of this prize will illuminate the promise of a new Armenia—one that lives in language, beyond existing cultural and territorial boundaries,” says IALA Advisory Board Member and donor Aline Ohanesian.

The Israelyan Eastern Armenian Translation Grant from the International Armenian Literary Alliance will award $3,000 to one translator working from an Eastern Armenian source text into English, whose work-in-progress shows exceptional literary and creative ability. In 2025, the grant will be awarded for a work of literature (in any literary genre) written in Eastern Armenian and published any time after 1915, including the Modernist and Contemporary periods.

Many in the Armenian diaspora and the English-speaking world are unable to read works in the original Armenian, and therefore, have centuries of literature inaccessible to them. Translators working with Armenian texts have traditionally lacked resources in the publishing world, as well as access to other funding, due to the overwhelming influence of so-called “majority languages.” IALA’s Israelyan Eastern Armenian Translation Grant, made possible by a generous donation from Souren A. Israelyan, supports translators working with contemporary Armenian literature through a monetary award. Additionally, IALA will support grant recipients in promoting their publications through marketing on our website and social media channels, book reviews, readings and discussions.

The Israelyan Western Armenian Translation Grant from the International Armenian Literary Alliance will award $3,000 to one translator working from a Western Armenian source text into English, whose work-in-progress shows exceptional literary and creative ability. In 2025, this new grant will be awarded for a work of literature (in any literary genre) written exclusively in Western Armenian from any period.

IALA’s Israelyan Western Armenian Grant, made possible by a generous donation from Souren A. Israelyan, supports translators working with Armenian literature through a monetary award. Additionally, IALA will support grant recipients in promoting their publications through marketing on our website and social media channels, book reviews, readings and discussions.

“Translators are so important in Armenian culture that we even have a Holy Translators’ Feast. As a small nation with two distinct branches of our language and a widespread, multilingual diaspora, we rely on translators to both share our rich literary heritage with the world and to bring global voices into Armenian,” says IALA Board of Directors and Translation Committee Member Tatevik Ayvazyan. “I am delighted that we can support and encourage translators both from and into Armenian, thanks to the generosity of our donor. This year is especially exciting, as we’re launching a new grant for a translation from Western Armenian. I’m looking forward to seeing which gems from our rich Western Armenian literary tradition will be introduced to English-speaking readers.”

The Israelyan English Translation Grant from the International Armenian Literary Alliance will award $3,000 to one translator working from an English source text into Eastern Armenian, whose work-in-progress shows exceptional literary and creative ability. In 2025, the grant will be awarded for a work of contemporary literature written by an Armenian author in English, from a list selected by IALA. The complete list of texts which IALA would like to see translated feature authors who represent and support the Armenian literary community; their works were selected for their diversity in voices and subject matters.

Despite the growing number of translated works from English to Eastern Armenian in recent years, translated literature remains an area that needs further attention and development. IALA’s Israelyan English Translation Grant, made possible by a generous donation from Souren A. Israelyan, supports translators working with literature written in the English language through a monetary award. Additionally, IALA will support grant recipients in promoting their publications through marketing on our website and social media channels, book reviews, readings and discussions.

For more details, full eligibility criteria and more information on past grant recipients, visit IALA’s website: armenianliterary.org.

The International Armenian Literary Alliance is a nonprofit organization launched in 2021 that supports and celebrates writers by fostering the development and distribution of Armenian literature in the English language. A network of Armenian writers and their champions, IALA gives Armenian writers a voice in the literary world through creative, professional and scholarly advocacy.