Armenian Writers' Conference
April 7th,
2006 - Post No. 46
The
Third Pan-Armenian Writers' Conference began last night
with sessions taking place at the Armenian Catholicosate
in Antelias, today and tomorrow.
About 120
writers are attending the conference from all over the
Armenian world. There are writers here representing the
Armenian Diaspora from Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Turkey,
Egypt, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Switzerland,
England, Australia, Georgia, the United States and
Canada. In addition, 50 writers flew in early Thursday
morning to represent the Writers’ Unions of Armenia.
Bishop
Nareg, pictured here in the blue cassock of the higher
ranking Armenian clergy, has been hard at work as a
member of the planning team for the conference. The
sudden cancellation of a flight originally scheduled to
bring the 50 writer-participants from Armenia to Beirut,
caused a major headache. There are only one weekly flight from Armenia to Beirut, so the
cancellation meant that the Armenian writers would miss
the conference or be required to travel from
airport to airport around the region to circumvent the
situation. Fortunately
providence prevailed and arrangements were made so that
the regularly scheduled flight from Armenia to Aleppo
would carry the Armenian writers and make an exceptional
second stop in Beirut.
Hosting an event of this scale is a major
undertaking, and the entire staff of the Catholicosate
is in rush mode, yet good humour prevails with people
here welcoming many old friends in town for the
conference. Among the more distinguished guests,
His Eminence Archbishop Nourhan Manougian, Patriarchal
Vicar and Grand Sacristan from the Armenian Patriarchate
in Old Jerusalem. I am pleased to meet him, to share a
cup of green spice tea and settle some of the details
about the next stop in my ecumenical pilgrimage. We also
"the situation" in the Middle East from the Christian
perspective, and Nourhan Serpazan muses on how one might
let the Western world know the sorry times Christians in
the region are living. There are barely 100,000
Christians left in the Holy Lands, and their numbers are
shrinking possibly faster here in Lebanon than
elsewhere. This is a recurring theme, I note, in
conversations about the Christian population of the
Middle East.
Our conversation takes place in the unofficial
headquarters of the Catholicosate, the Bookstore with
its capable and gracious manager Suzy "Hokis." She is
known throughout the Armenian world, and she is the
heart of the action in the circulation of the many books
published at the Catholicosate. She is also a storehouse
of practical knowledge. I tease her about running an
unofficial travel agency in the bookstore. Suzy is
certainly the person to see for advice on booking a taxi
or catching a bus to go to Aleppo or just about anywhere
else; and she is the go-to person for any questions
about books, local customs, the shipment of packages, or
just about anything else. She is helping me
organise the shipment of two parcels back to Canada, of
books and materials that I don't need to carry around
with me during the next phase of my journey in the
region.
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