Armenian American literature constitutes a diverse body of literature that incorporates American writers of Armenian ancestry.

Encompassing a cross section of literary genres and forms, Armenian American writers often incorporate some common themes (i.e. the Armenian Genocide) while maintaining very personal literary styles.

The New York-based Ararat Quarterly

Ararat Quarterly

Ararat Quarterly is an international quarterly of literature, history, popular culture and the arts published in EnglishThe quarterly is published by the Armenian General Benevolent Union in New York, NY....

, published since 1959, has been a major venue for Armenian American writing. Ararat is published in English by the AGBU and also includes works by Armenian writers around the world in translation.

First generation Armenian American writers include William Saroyan

William Saroyan

William Saroyan was an Armenian American dramatist and author. The setting of many of his stories and plays is the center of Armenian-American life in California in his native Fresno.-Early years:...

, Levon Surmelian, A. I. Bezzerides

A. I. Bezzerides

A.I. " Buzz" Bezzerides, , was an American novelist and screenwriter, best known for writing Noir and Action motion pictures, especially several of Warners' "social conscience" films of the 1940s....

, Michael Arlen

Michael Arlen

Michael Arlen , original name Dikran Kouyoumdjian, was an Armenian essayist, short story writer, novelist, playwright, and scriptwriter, who had his greatest successes in the 1920s while living and writing in England...

, Peter Sourian, David Kherdian, Marjorie Housepian Dobkin

Marjorie Housepian Dobkin

Marjorie Housepian Dobkin is Professor Emeritus in English at Barnard College, Columbia University, New York. Her books include the novel A Houseful of Love and the history Smyrna 1922 She has been awarded the Anania Shirakatsi prize of the Academy of Sciences of Soviet Armenia and is the...

, Leon Serabian Herald, Emmanuel Varandyan, Arlene Voski Avakian, Jack Kevorkian

Jack Kevorkian

Jacob "Jack" Kevorkian , commonly known as "Dr. Death", was an American pathologist, euthanasia activist, painter, composer and instrumentalist. He is best known for publicly championing a terminal patient's right to die via physician-assisted suicide; he said he assisted at least 130 patients to...

, Nishan Parlakian, Leo Hamalian and others.

Second generation Armenian American writers include Peter Balakian

Peter Balakian

Peter Balakian is a poet, writer and academic, the Donald M. and Constance H. Rebar Professor of Humanities at Colgate University.- Life :...

, Nancy Kricorian

Nancy Kricorian

Nancy Kricorian is an American author of the novels Zabelle and Dreams of Bread and Fire ....

, Mark Arax, Aris Janjigian, George Stamboulian, Carol Edgarian

Carol Edgarian

Carol Edgarian is an American author, editor, and publisher. She is known for her novels, Rise the Euphrates and Three Stages of Amazement. She is also co-founder, editor and publisher of Narrative Magazine, the world's first and foremost online literary magazine.-Career:Edgarian was born in New...

, Michael J. Arlen

Michael J. Arlen

Michael J. Arlen is an Armenian-American writer and former television critic of The New Yorker. The son of the prominent Armenian-American writer, Michael Arlen, he is the author of Living Room War, a book on the Vietnam War's portrayal and the social culture of America in the media in the USA...

, Arthur Nersesian

Arthur Nersesian

Arthur Nersesian is an American novelist, playwright, and poet. Nersesian is of Armenian and Irish descent. He was born and raised in New York City...

, Micheline Aharonian Marcom

Micheline Aharonian Marcom

Micheline Aharonian Marcom is an important American novelist of Armenian descent.-Life and Work:Micheline Aharonian Marcom was born in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia in 1968 to an American father and an Armenian-Lebanese mother. She grew up in Los Angeles, but, as a child in the years before the Lebanese...

, Dahlia Elsayed, Nancy Agabian, Hrag Vartanian

Hrag Vartanian

Hrag Vartanian was born in Aleppo, Syria, raised in Toronto, Canada, and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. He is a writer, critic and curator who regularly contributes to AGBU News Magazine, Ararat Magazine, and other publications...

, Christopher Atamian and others.

External links

• Interview with David Kherdian, editor of the anthology of first generation Armenian American writers, Forgotten Bread.