This is your last chance to discover the British Library’s display, Britanahay Բրիտանահայ: Armenian and British, through an exclusive presentation by its curator, Michael Erdman. Our two previous guided tours in the autumn were fully booked and sparked huge interest, so don't miss the opportunity to attend, as the display will end on 22 February 2926. This remarkable showcase brings together printed works and manuscripts from the Library’s collection, illuminating centuries of British-Armenian connections. Enriched with gripping audio clips from the Armenian Institute’s Heritage of Displacement oral history project, the display offers a vivid encounter with voices, histories, and traditions that continue to shape our shared heritage.

Meet at 6:30pm in the British Library foyer.

This event is part of Heritage of Displacement: Oral Histories from the UK Armenian Communities (2023–2026), funded by a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant, thanks to National Lottery players.

This event coincides with the British Library display, Britanahay Բրիտանահայ: Armenian and British (27 September 2025 - 22 February 2026).

About the Curator

A former diplomat with Global Affairs Canada, Michael Erdman completed his PhD on Turkic historiography at SOAS in 2018. As Head of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Collections at the British Library, Michael takes a deep interest in publishing and printing cultures in Turkophone and Kurdophone communities, as well as 19th and 20th century historiography across Eurasia.

Blog: https://fromaltaytoyughur.blog

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

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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.

Join us as we mark the 19th anniversary of the assassination of Hrant Dink, the Armenian-Turkish editor of the newspaper Agos and a courageous human rights advocate. His writings, TV appearances and public speaking in various countries powerfully challenged nationalist narratives. He was murdered in broad daylight on January 19, 2007.

Although an Istanbul court issued multiple life sentences last year, the verdict still falls short for Dink’s family, who continue to seek closure. Meanwhile, the Hrant Dink Foundation carries forward his international legacy by promoting equal rights, dialogue, and democratic values across communities.

We invite you to honour Hrant Dink’s life and ideals at our annual commemoration, marked this year by a lecture by the renowned professor of international law William A. Schabas, author of the reference title Genocide in International Law.

There are hearings underway before the International Court of Justice concerning charges of genocide committed in Myanmar. This is the first of four such cases filed pursuant to the Genocide Convention of 1948. Some 80 years after its adoption, the Convention finds itself at the centre stage of debates about international law, and at a time when some say that the existence of international law itself is threatened. The talk will review the latest developments in the law governing genocide, the consequences for the future, but also for the past.

We’re looking for volunteers to help us set up: email erica@armenianinstitute.org.uk if you’re interested, in exchange for a free spot!

William A. Schabas is professor of international law at Middlesex University in London, emeritus professor at Leiden University and the University of Galway, distinguished visiting faculty at the Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po, and an associate tenant at 9BR barristers’ chambers in London. The third edition of his book Genocide in International Law was published in February 2025. He has appeared as counsel before the International Court of Justice and the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in cases involving the Genocide Convention. Professor Schabas is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Royal Irish Academy. In 2014 he served as chairman of the UN Commission of Inquiry into the Gaza conflict.