A popular collection of facts on Armenian history and culture was recently announced winner of the non-fiction category of the UK-based International Rubery Book Award for 2017.
The oldest award for self-published and independent books in the UK, the Rubery Award website describes Impact of Ancient Nation as “a beautifully produced, full colour coffee table book … aimed at the Armenian diaspora but … equally fascinating to the general reader with little knowledge of the country.”
Impact of an Ancient Nation: Bridging the Past, Present, and Future with 100+ Facts about Armenia and Armenians by Lena Maranian Adishian and Nareg Seferian is a follow-up to The 100 Years, 100 Facts Projec t – the successful year-long online educational initiative that the pair ran to mark the centennial of the Armenian Genocide.
“We were very excited to have our work acknowledged in this manner. Our aim was to put together an educational work, highlighting the Armenian heritage as broadly as possible, curating a worthwhile selection from the Armenian experience. There is so much to Armenian history and culture that is worth knowing about, celebrating, and sharing. We are so glad and grateful to have been selected as the best non-fiction work by the judges at Rubery and hope that this book indeed makes its way to coffee tables, as well as school desks, libraries and community centers, whether being perused by Armenians or non-Armenians,” Lena said.
“Our website and social media campaigns were powerful tools to share our rich legacy as Armenians with a global Diaspora – and with the world at large – during the genocide centennial. We were very excited to discover that there wasn’t any less enthusiasm for our commemorative book, as we received orders from the United States, Canada, England, France, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Lebanon, all the way out in Hong Kong, and, of course, Armenia itself,” Nareg added.
Having sold out within six months of its original printing, the second run is now available online at http://100years100facts.com/product/impact-of-an-ancient-nation-the-book/ , shipping worldwide, and also through Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/0692661603 / , as well as the Abril , Sardarabad , and NAASR bookstores.
Impact of an Ancient Nation includes updated and revised versions of the 100 facts published on the project’s website . In addition, there are five bonus facts researched and written just for the book. The facts cover Armenian history, including entries on the Armenian Genocide, as well as profiles of Armenian Diaspora communities around the world, notable individuals, music and dance, religion and language, and even sports and entertainment. Impact of an Ancient Nation is beautifully designed by Harut Genjoyan of AlphaGraph, LLC .
The book is a not-for-profit publication made possible with the generous support of the Arshag and Eleanor Dickranian Foundation (Los Angeles) and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon). All proceeds from the sale of the book will be directed toward covering production costs, with any additional income being donated to Armenian non-profits.
“…this was no ordinary book but one meant to be treasured and preserved for generations to follow. It’s a “tour de force” if you’ll pardon my over-exuberance, simply because everything I ever wanted to know about my history and heritage is found within its contents.” – Tom Vartabedian
The 100 Years, 100 Facts Project ran from April 24, 2014 to April 24, 2015 in six languages receiving visitors from over 120 countries and all fifty of the United States, with thousands of followers through social media. The website was translated into Portuguese, Russian, French, and Spanish by volunteers based in Brazil (Portal Estação Armênia), France (Artem Asryan and Debora Babiszenko), and Ukraine, and it received a grant from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation to have a professionally-translated Turkish version.
