Michael Goorjian with Peter Balakian

Peter Balakian has spent decades exploring memory, identity, history and the Armenian experience through poetry, prose and scholarship. In conversation with The New Yorker staff writer Raffi Khatchadourian, he will reflect on the ideas and experiences that have shaped his work, and the questions that continue to follow him.

For the inaugural edition of the Parallels International Literature Festival, Peter Balakian has been invited to Yerevan as its Special Guest. The festival will mark the occasion with the Armenian publication of Balakian’s Pulitzer Prize-winning poetry collection, Ozone Journal, and his bestselling memoir, The Black Dog of Fate, published by ARI Literature Foundation. His visit will be part of an extended program of talks, lectures and discussions taking place at venues across Yerevan.

Maria Titizian with Edik Baghdasaryan

In 2001, Edik Baghdasaryan helped launch Hetq with a simple ambition: to build investigative journalism in Armenia. Twenty-five years later, the work has brought investigations, recognition and impact, but also pressure, threats and difficult moments. In this intimate conversation, Baghdasaryan reflects on why he started Hetq, what it has taken to sustain it, and the moments that have tested his commitment to investigative journalism.

Raffi Khatchadourian with Ron Deibert

Ron Deibert has helped expose some of the most consequential abuses of technology against journalists, activists and civil society through his work at The Citizen Lab. In conversation with The New Yorker staff writer Raffi Khatchadourian, Deibert will reflect on his fascination with the intersection of technology, power and human rights, the investigations that have shaped his career, and what it means to keep looking for threats that most of us cannot see.

Raffi Khachadourian with Nicholas Niarchos

Nicolas Niarchos has built a career reporting from some of the world’s most difficult and dangerous places, exploring war, power and the people caught in their midst. His book, “The Elements of Power”, examines the global struggle for the minerals that power the energy transition. In conversation with The New Yorker staff writer Raffi Khatchadourian, Niarchos will reflect on the stories that have shaped his work and what they have taught him about power, technology and the human cost of the resources the modern world depends on.