Join Glendale Library, Arts & Culture and Aida Zilelian, a first generation American-Armenian writer, educator and storyteller from Queens, NY as she discusses her latest book title All the Ways We Lied in conversation with author and poet Shahé Mankerian.

Co-sponored by Abril Books

Set in Queens, New York, while a father deteriorates from terminal illness, three sisters contend with one another, their self-destructive pasts, and their indomitable mother as they face the loss of the one person holding their unstable family together.

Kohar, the oldest sister, is happily married, yet grapples with fertility issues and, in turn, her own self-worth. Lucine, the middle child, is trapped in a loveless marriage and haunted by memories of her estranged father. Azad, the beloved youngest child, is burdened by an inescapable cycle of failed relationships.

By turns heartfelt and heart-wrenching, All the Ways We Lied introduces a cast of tragically flawed but lovable characters on the brink of unraveling. With humor and compassion, this spellbinding tale explores the fraught and contradictory landscape of sisterhood, introducing four unforgettable women who have nothing in common, and are bound by blood and history.

ABOUT

Aida Zilelian is a first generation American-Armenian writer, educator and storyteller from Queens, NY. She is the author of The Legacy of Lost Things which was the recipient of the Tololyan Literary Award. She has been performing at storytelling events in NYC, Montreal and Los Angeles, and was recently featured on the RISK! Radio Hour Podcast and the Volume Knob. She has also been featured in the Huffington Post, NPR’s Takeaway, Poets & Writers, Kirkus Reviews, among other reading series and print outlets. Her short story collection These Hills Were Meant for You was shortlisted for 2018 Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction. Her short story “The Piano” won first prize in the Lighthouse Weekly contest. She is currently working on completing her short story collection Where There Can Be No Breath At All.

Shahé Mankerian is the principal of St. Gregory Hovsepian School in Pasadena, CA, and the director of mentorship at the International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA). He has been the co-director of the Los Angeles Writing Project and has received the Los Angeles Music Center’s BRAVO Award, which recognizes teachers for innovation in arts education. Mankerian’s inaugural poetry collection, History of Forgetfulness, was published in 2021 by Fly on the Wall Press in the UK. The collection was a semifinalist for the prestigious Khayrallah Prize and a finalist in the Bibby First Book Competition, the Crab Orchard Poetry Open Competition, Julie Suk Award, the Quercus Review Press Poetry Book Award, and the White Pine Press Poetry Prize.