Among the Brightening Bloom - A new book by the Children of Armenia Fund, Presented by SAMUEL ARMEN
Thursday, December 7, 2017 7:30pm
Abril Bookstore cordially invites you to meet
SAMUEL ARMEN
Program Manager of PROJECT BLOOM
presenting the newly released book
AMONG THE BRIGHTENING BLOOM
By the CHILDREN OF ARMENIA FUND
Introduced by JANO BOGHOSIAN
Former UCLA ASA Director and current medical candidate
Thursday, December 7, 2017 – 7:30 pm
Abril Bookstore
415 E. Broadway, Glendale , CA
Admission is Free. Reception to follow. For more information, call (818) 243-4112 or email noor@abrilbooks.com
100% of the royalties go to COAF's English programs.
AMONG THE BRIGHTENING BLOOM is collection of true stories that show what happens when a land ravaged by poverty begins to resurrect. In one corner of Armenia, thirty students came together to learn about and practice the craft of story-writing in a language new to them: English. This initiative – titled Project Bloom – is one of a hundred programs developed by the Children of Armenia Fund. Of the stories in this collection, you will find triumph and disaster, fear and courage, and the everyday ups and downs of adolescence. Most uniformly, however, you will find a group of young scholars with an indomitable spirit and the courage to excel.
Children of Armenian Fund (COAF) began because of an increasingly desperate need. In ten years, an earthquake, blockade, seven-year war, and the collapse of the Soviet Union left hundreds of villages crippled throughout rural Armenia. COAF kicked off its first ground operations in 2004, renovating a single school by leveraging nearby resources – which in turn began to jump-start the local economy. The school was later dubbed a ‘Bloom in the Desert’ as it began to represent a beacon of hope. Following this synchronized approach, COAF now sponsors 44 villages, benefiting over 75,000 men, women, and children with programs that range from agricultural initiatives to medical training. One program that stands out for many is the US-Embassy-sponsored English Access Micro-scholarship Program. This program provides students two years of accelerated training in English comprehension, focusing on speaking and listening. Project Bloom, in a sense, is a logical continuation of the Access Program. Former Access students advanced their literacy through creative exercises, ultimately learning how to express themselves through writing. This training yielded the book that rests in your hands.
SAMUEL ARMEN was born in Gyumri, Armenia on October 12th 1988 - just prior to the Gyumri-Spitak earthquake in December 1988. By the age of five, he was adopted into an Armenian-American family in Long Island, New York. His first publications were as an intern journalist for the Armenian newspaper and website HetQ, where among other articles, he published a three-part cover-page narrative detailing his journey to find his biological ancestors. His undergraduate experience includes studying behavioral psychology at Boston University, screen-writing at NYU: Tisch, and English Literature at St. John's University. He received his Masters in Education in Adolescent English at CUNY: Hunter College. He currently teaches High School English and AVID in Brooklyn, New York.
SAMUEL ARMEN was born in Gyumri, Armenia on October 12th 1988 - just prior to the Gyumri-Spitak earthquake in December 1988. By the age of five, he was adopted into an Armenian-American family in Long Island, New York. His first publications were as an intern journalist for the Armenian newspaper and website HetQ, where among other articles, he published a three-part cover-page narrative detailing his journey to find his biological ancestors. His undergraduate experience includes studying behavioral psychology at Boston University, screen-writing at NYU: Tisch, and English Literature at St. John's University. He received his Masters in Education in Adolescent English at CUNY: Hunter College. He currently teaches High School English and AVID in Brooklyn, New York.
