Aaron Poochigian won the 2025 Anahid Literary Prize
Photo by Cricket Powell
By Christine Vartanian Datian
NEW YORK – Poet, classic scholar, and translator Aaron Poochigian has won the 2025 Anahid Literary Prize. “The Anahid Literary Prize is a significant award for emerging Armenian-American writers, established in 1988 by an anonymous donor, recognizing excellence in poetry, fiction, and drama with a $5,000 award, presented by Columbia University’s Armenian Center to celebrate Armenian culture and talent. Other “Anahid” named awards exist, like those at Southwestern Law School for teaching and service, honoring specific individuals like Anahid Gharakhanian. There have been more than a dozen winners in poetry, fiction, playwriting, and screen writing since that time. Past winners include: Leslie Ayvasian, Peter Balakian, Eric Bogosian, Diana Der Hovanessian, and Atom Egoyan. The Anahid Literary Prize awards ceremony will be held in April 2026, and will include the 2024 winner, Lory Bedikian.
Poochigian’s latest book is Four Walks in Central: A Poetic Guide to the Park that came out in September of 2025. He attended Moorhead State University from 1991 to 1996 where he studied under the poets Tim Murphy and Dave Mason. He entered graduate school for Classics in 1997 at the University of Minnesota. After doing research in Greece on fellowship in 2003-4, he earned his PhD in 2006. He was D.L. Jordon Fellow at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia, from 2008-2009, and lives and writes in New York City. He has published numerous translations with Penguin Classics and W.W. Norton. His work has appeared in such publications as Best American Poetry, The Paris Review and POETRY.
Poochigian’s newest translation, Marcus Aurelius Meditations, will be available in January 2026.
Four Walks in Central Park: A Poetic Guide to the Park Paperback – September 9, 2025 by Aaron Poochigian (Author)
“Poochigian’s prizewinning second collection of poetry, Manhattanite, examines New York’s juxtaposed symbols of towering achievement and monumental desolation, and then traverses the country to California’s Central Valley, where the poet reclaims his grandparents’ home. Poochigian consistently entertains, whether his theme is lamentation or celebration—a grizzled urban pigeon (scavenging for ‘the sort of faith/that holds for here and now and vibes like song’) or an Ohio wind turbine (an ‘ungatherable/iron flower’ seen ‘juggling . . . / three arms’ worth/ of gale-force wind’). Manhattanite is the winner of the 2016 Able Muse Book Award.”
His poetry collection, American Divine, the winner of the Richard Wilbur Award, came out in 2021. He has translated Sappho for Penguin Classics (2009) and Aratus’ Phaenomena for Johns Hopkins University Press (2010). Penguin Classics UK put out Stung with Love, his translation of Sappho in the fall of 2009. His translations of Aeschylus, Apollonius and Aratus appear in the Norton Anthology The Greek Poets: Homer to the Present. His work has appeared in such newspapers and journals as The Financial Times, Poems Out Loud, and Poetry Magazine.
“Four Walks in Central Park invites readers to experience the park not just as a destination, but as a living poem. Through four thoughtfully crafted walks—each aligned with a season or mood—this guide blends poetry, history, and personal reflection to illuminate the hidden rhythms of Central Park. Join Poochigian on a walking tour of New York City’s Central Park and experience the sights, the history, and the healing power of a walk and a poem. Including maps, historical images, an index, and an exploration of other literary references to Central Park, Four Walks in Central Park is unlike any tour you’ve ever experienced.”
Here are some links to media coverage that Four Walks in Central Park has received:
- Top Reads for Navigating Your Self-Healing Journey – Wellbeing Magazine
- A Review of Four Walks in Central Park by Aaron Poochigian
- The 4 Best Attractions in Central Park for Poets – Writer’s Digest
- Four Walks in Central Park by Aaron Poochigian – Joyce’s mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too.
- Strawberry Fields by Aaron Poochigian – Rattle: Poetry
- Two Cuttings from Central Park – The Paideia Institute
For A Review of Four Walks in Central Park by Aaron Poochigian, go to: https://newversereview.
substack.com/p/a-review-of- four-walks-in-central?r=ixk4n& utm_campaign=post&utm_medium= web For excerpts, see: https://newversereview.
substack.com/p/four-walks-in- central-park To order, go to: https://www.amazon.com/Four-
Walks-Central-Park-Poetic/dp/ B0DWJGKLY2
Meditations Hardcover – January 6, 2026 by Marcus Aurelius (Author), Aaron Poochigian (Translator)
“Acclaimed poet and translator Aaron Poochigian’s vibrant new translation of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations captures and accentuates an aspect of the best-selling work of classical antiquity that other English translations have, remarkably, overlooked: Marcus’ distinct, varying voices. There’s Marcus the aspirant, speaking encouragingly to himself as a diarist might; Marcus the instructor, exhorting and chiding himself as a ‘you’ that includes us all; Marcus the stylist, spinning memorable, quotable epigrams; and Marcus the philosopher, opining about the ‘human commonwealth’ of which we are all members. This multivocal chorus is apparent to all who can read the original Koine Greek text, but Poochigian’s sensitive ear has captured it in English as no translator has before. The result is a Meditations that is as pleasurable to read as it is profound―a revelation even to readers who think they know it well.”
See: https://wwnorton.com/books/
9781324096399 To order, go to: https://www.amazon.com/
Meditations-Marcus-Aurelius/ dp/132409639X For The Helping Families be Happy Podcast with Aaron Poochigian, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=N-K_3YrxGoI Full-length collection of original poetry from Aaron Poochigian, now available for pre-order from Able Muse Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Foyles, and other online and offline bookstores worldwide.
To see a list of Aaron Poorchigian’s publications, visit https://www.aaronpoochigian.
com/
