ARI Literature Foundation Program at Frankfurt Book Fair 2026
This year ARI Literature Foundation took part at Frankfurt Book Fair not only as a co-exhibitor at the Armenian National Stand, but also with a program of events. Co-funded by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports ARI organized panel discussions on the fair grounds. On October 7th a discussion entitled Exploring the Socialist Era Through Literature from the Ex-Soviet World took place with participation of three German publishers who featured Armenian classical and contemporary authors in their lists in the past few year. The moderator of the event was German translator Susanna Yeghoyan (Austria). Sebastian Guggolz (Guggolz Verlag), André Störr (Verlag Friedrich Mauke) and Mario Pschera (Dağyeli Verlag) shared their experiences in publishing authors from the ex-soviet territories and explained the reasons behind their decision to bring Armenian stories to their readers. While for some of them this was a strategic and politically engaged decision, for others it was a part of enlarging their lists with diverse stories. The importance of translation as an act of co-authorship and mediation between cultures was highlighted by all the publishers.
On October 9th an international panel discussion Women Leading Cultural Change: Stronger Literary Markets Through European Integration took place with participation of the founder of ARI Literature Foundation Arevik Ashkharoyan (Armenia), President of International Publishers’s Association Gvantsa Jobava (Georgia), writer and journalist Paula Erizanu (Moldova) and director of International Book Arsenal Festival Yulia Kozlovets (Ukraine) with moderation by the founder of Next Page Foundation and Sofia Translators House, independent consultant Yana Genova (Bulgaria). The discussion started with the personal stories of the speakers on how they came into the publishing industry and what kind of obstacles they had to face on their way to success and leadership as women. Through family tradition, personal professional choice or started as a small reading project for their own kids all speakers confessed to be taking this path out of love towards reading. Then the speakers talked about the experience with European projects, which apart from the possibility for professional development, also helped these countries to get to know each other, without mediation from the “center”.
On October 9th another discussion – The EUPL Effect – Enlarging European Borders – was held. Organized in cooperation with PEN Armenia and European Union Prize for Literature the panel brought together EUPL shortlisted Armenian writers Sargis Hovsepyan (2026) and Lusine Kharatyan (2023) in conversation with Anne Bergman-Tahon, director of European Publishers’ Association. Mr Bergman-Tahon introduced EUPL and all opportunities it provides to the writers for translation and promotion of their work. Authors shared their experience in getting translated and published internationally, traveling to the events to talk about their work and enlarging their network for future cooperation. Lusine Kharatyan’s two books were translated and published in Polish and Greek with the support of EUPL translation grant. Sargis Hovsepyan’s novel You Die Today, I Die Tomorrow is eligible for a translation grant in 2026 and has already gained a lot of interest from many European publishers. Both writers mentioned that apart from the funding opportunities the fact of being shortlisted authors has already drawn a lot of attention towards their literature.
To the question of Ms Bergman-Tahon on how EUPL could improve their work Lusine Kharatyan made a suggestion to involve more young people in the EUPL events to diversify their reading lists with translated titles from small language markets. Sargis Hovsepyan mentioned that a full translation into one big European language would help to promote the book into other markets as well.
