T​he Vartanush Krikorian Fund for Armenian Literature and Freedom of Expression includes a translation grant (“the Vartanush Krikorian Translation Grant”), the purpose of which is to promote internationally Armenian fiction that has a contemporary social and/or political resonance in Armenia or the Diaspora.

 

Thanks to missions in Armenia, notably during the Yerevan book fair, the translation grant was able to select an excellent translator from Armenian into French, Anahit Avetisyan.

 

Trips to Marseille or the Frankfurt book fair and contacts in Switzerland have enabled Hyestart to forge partnerships with publishers (Parenthèses in Marseille, Belleville in Paris) and a foundation, the Jan Michalski Foundation for Writing and Literature in Montricher, Switzerland.

 

Finally, over the period 2017-2021, the grant funded the translation of two books from Armenian into French: "Goodbye, Piaf" by Aram Pachyan (2020, Parentheses) and "Third gender" by Jean-Chat Tekgyozyan, (2021, Belleville). 

 

To support the vitality of literary creation in the Armenian language and freedom of expression, the Fund also supported for the reestablishment of the PEN International Center in Armenia. 

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Hyestart could not have carried out these various projects without the support and solid collaboration of the ARI literary agency founded by Arevik Ashkharoyan. 

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The fruit of the tireless commitment of Hyestart's members and a history marked by beautiful encounters and fruitful partnerships, the Fund has become a little less active due to the merciless war launched by the Baku-Ankara axis against the Armenians in the fall of 2020.

 

In 2024, in order to open up a field of research on the changing modes of participation and mobilization of audiences of Armenian origin, Hyestart has financially supported the publication of the book "Anahide" - Chronique d'une voix libre (Thaddée Pub), which plunges the reader into the world of free radio in the early 1980s, at the height of the "golden age" of the Armenian cause.

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In the future, the Fund intends to continue supporting Armenian literature in Armenia, especially through translation support, but also in the Diaspora, when this opens up the field of possibilities. The Fund also intends to support freedom of expression on all issues of concern to Hyestart.  

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Contact: contact@hyestart.org 

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