Join us on 27 January 2026 to hear internationally renowned author, Narine Abgaryan, speak about her recently published collection of stories, To Go On Living. Published in the UK by Plough in June 2025, these thirty-one linked short stories trace the interconnected lives of villagers in an Armenian mountain village immediately after the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the early 1990s. Abgaryan’s stories, written in her signature style that weaves elements of Armenian folk tradition into her prose, focus on how, in the war’s aftermath, the survivors work, as individuals and as a community, to find a way forward.
She will be in conversation with Plough Books Editor Joy Clarkson and will speak in Armenian, with her speech translated into English by interpreter Zepyur Batikyan.
This event is held in collaboration with Plough Publishing.
Image Credit: Maretta Aivazian
About the Speakers
Narine Abgaryan was born in 1971 in Berd, Armenia, to a doctor and a school teacher. Named one of Europe’s most exciting authors by the Guardian, she is the author of a dozen books, which have collectively sold over 1.35 million copies. Her book Three Apples Fell From the Sky (Oneworld, 2020) won the Leo Tolstoy Yasnaya Polyana Award and an English PEN Award, and has been translated into 27 languages. Her award-winning trilogy about Manunia, a busy and troublesome 11-year-old, has been made into a TV series. Abgaryan divides her time between Armenia and Germany.
Joy Marie Clarkson holds a PhD in theology from the Institute for Theology and the Arts at the University of Saint Andrews. She hosts Speaking with Joy, a popular podcast about art, theology, and culture, and writes books, including her most recent You Are A Tree: And Other Metaphors to Nourish Life, Thought, and Prayer (February 2024). She is a bird watcher, a book collector, and a passionate evangelist for Yorkshire Gold tea.
Zepyur Batikyan is a professional interpreter and translator with over 20 years of experience across diverse fields and institutions. Her work has taken her from courts, prisons, hospitals, and public services in the UK to high-level engagements with the UK Parliament, Armenian Ministries, and the President of Armenia. For the past decade, she has also served as an Armenian & Russian language trainer at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, preparing British diplomats for overseas postings. Fluent in Armenian, Russian, English and Spanish, Zepyur bridges languages and facilitates understanding between cultures.