Cityscape

Update: Detroit-Bound Writer Liana Aghajanian 'Had So Much Fun' at LA Sendoff

November 03, 2015, 7:38 AM by  Alan Stamm

Los Angeles admirers Monday night raised farewell toasts to a writer whose initials happen to be L.A.

A party hosted by Detroit's Write A House nonprofit honored freelance journalist and essayist Liana Aghajanian, 30, the latest winner of a two-year residency here. Her free stay begins in January at a a newly renovated east-side home slightly north of Hamtramck.


Liana Aghajanian: "I had so much fun." (Write A House photo)

The three-hour event in Venice was a combination tribute, literary reading  and benefit for the residency program here that was launched in 2013. Guests will paid $20, or $50 for open bar access.

Aghajanian posts that she spoke about her work, life and "my affinity for Detroit."  

The toasting, noshing and dancing were at the office of HēLō, a two-year-old advertising and interactive production agency located six blocks from the Pacific.

"Sorry, not sorry," says an online invitation, "but Write A House has poached a gem out of your fine city and is giving her a home, a community and a lifetime of writer's gold in fabulous Detroit."

Detroiters attending included Sarah F. Cox,  co-founder and vice president of Write A House (whose voice we detect in event postings), and activist-poet dream hampton, a board member and judge for the organization. She moderated a conversation with the guest of honor.

Also participating was Detroit native Tamara Warren, a MSU graduate and Write a House judge who lives in New York.   

Aghajanian (pronounced agg-HAH-jahn-EE-yan) was chosen from more than 200 applicants. She visited Detroit for the first time Oct. 2 for a party at her new home.

She's relocating with Keegam Shamlian, a London-bron designer-illustrator-photographer, and their dog.

The California State University-Northridge graduate has written essays about her Armenian-American upbringing and magazine-length news features on domestic and international topics. She visited Mongolia for several weeks in September for a university-backed reporting project on how coal plant pollution affects maternal health.

"I specialize in, and am passionate about longform, narrative storytelling," she says at her website.

Aghajanian also is editor of Ianyan Magazine, an online publication about Armenia and the Middle East.

Now she and her partner are preparing for a 2,300-mile move and a new chapter.  

Earlier coverage:

Meet LA Freelancer Liana Aghajanian, Winner of Detroit House, Oct. 3



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