Bilingual edition of Tenny Arlen’s Armenian poetry released by Tarkmaneal Press
NEW YORK — Tarkmaneal Press announced the release of a facing-page bilingual (Armenian and English) edition of Tenny Arlen’s (1991–2015) book of Armenian poetry, first published posthumously in 2021 by ARI Literature Foundation, with the support of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation under the title Կիրքով ըսելու՝ ինչո՞ւ հոս եմ (To Say with Passion: Why Am I Here?).
The 2025 bilingual edition, co-translated by the late author and her brother Jesse Arlen, contains the original text and and English translation of everything found in the Armenian edition, including an appendix of the author’s poetic prose works, as well as an afterword by UCLA Western Armenian professor Hagop Gulludjian, in which he reflects upon Tenny’s creative journey — from being a new learner of the language to her remarkable achievement of having produced the first full-length work of creative literature written in Armenian by an American-born writer.
New to the bilingual edition are a second appendix with three newly discovered writings found among Tenny’s papers, a third appendix with images of the first drafts of eight of her poems and a new afterword by Arthur Ipek, in which he reflects on Tenny’s poetry as an example of exophony (creative writing in a non-native language), highlights some principal themes in her work and evaluates her place in the Armenian literary tradition. Ipek’s afterword is an expanded version of his paper entitled, “Ecce philomela obispoensis: Tenny Arlen and her contribution to contemporary Armenian poetry,” which was recently awarded the Society for Armenian Studies’ “Best Conference Paper Prize” for 2024-2025.
An online book launch, organized as the final installment of the Literary Lights 2025 reading series, an initiative of the International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA), National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) and the Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center, will take place on December 6, 2025, at 12:00 p.m. EST | 9:00 a.m. PST | 9:00 p.m. Armenia time. Visit the IALA website to register. The virtual event is co-sponsored by UCLA’s Narekatsi Chair of Armenian Studies, Promise Armenian Institute, Richard Hovannisian Endowed Chair in Modern Armenian History and University of Michigan’s Center for Armenian Studies.
The book is available for sale through Amazon marketplaces internationally and from the NAASR bookstore in Belmont, Mass.
Praise for the book
“Hauntingly beautiful poems… A sparkling mind, mature and sophisticated, well beyond her youthful years. I remember Tenny as among a handful of the most brilliant students I have encountered throughout my life,” said Sebouh David Aslanian, UCLA Professor and Richard Hovannisian Endowed Chair in Modern Armenian History.
“While respecting the classic writers, Tenny was not a slave to their style or ideas, but with that same self-confidence which was the hallmark of all her endeavors, she fashioned her own instrument to be the vessel of her thoughts. As in their own time, Zahrad and Khrakhuni opened a new path for Armenian poetry, Tenny’s creative work marks a new phase in the literary history of the Diaspora… Tenny has become a pioneer by her literary path,” said Peter Cowe, Narekatsi Professor of Armenian Studies at UCLA.
“Miracles do happen,” said Arpi Sarafian of the Armenian Mirror-Spectator.
“To describe Tenny Arlen as a trailblazer would be to bestow that term upon the artist without exaggerating its definition,” said David Garyan, poet, journalist and editor of LAdige literary journal.
“Magnificent, profound and profoundly beautiful writings… This book, Tenny’s work, has illuminated the creative path for all of us,” said Alexia Hatun, writer and doctoral student, UCLA.
“A watershed moment for the Armenian literary tradition… In addition to inaugurating a return to the classics of Armenian literature, this collection simultaneously ushers in a new moment for the Armenian literary tradition, in the idiom of the New World. In this New World, there are Armenian speakers who might be completely new to the language, yet may have much to contribute to the creation of works in Armenian… Both a profound soul and linguistic dexterity characterize Arlen as a poet. Her extant work is a manifestation of a poetic consciousness unique to her,” said Arthur Ipek, poet and literary scholar.
“From the very beginning, Tenny attempted to create in Armenian, even when she did not understand much of the language. She understood her journey toward the language as a creative process, a means and a way to achieve self-actualization through creation… Vitality, vigor, revitalization of the language — all these things happen not by honoring it as a sacred relic, but by playing with it, wrestling, flirting, making love with it, in the words of the title of this book, by saying passionately, why am I here?” said Hagop Gulludjian, UCLA Senior Lecturer of Western Armenian, Kachigian Family Lecturer in Armenian Language and Culture.
