Gırgin Kirki Paradon (Again Book Festival), organized jointly by Aras Publishing and the Yesayan Association, will meet book lovers at Naregyan Hall in Beyoğlu on October 8, 9, and 10, 2026. Held on the occasion of Translators’ Day (Tarkmançats), the festival will feature book sales as well as talks, open workshops, and meetings with authors.
The festival aims to revive a tradition of book gatherings that was held for many years in the past under the umbrella of Pangaltı High School Alumni Association and that left a lasting mark on the community’s collective memory. Revived years later through the collaboration of various institutions, the gathering will welcome readers over the course of three days.
A century-old publishing practice, the antiquarian book tradition, and young voices
One of the starting points for the festival is a sentence written by Hrant Dink in the pages of Agos in 1996: “Salutes to those who carried the books on their backs and to those who protected the pages and carried them into the present.” The legacy of those who, over the centuries, carried letters and pages from monasteries to printing presses, along paths of exile and up narrow slopes, will be brought together once again at Naregyan Hall.
Gırgin Kirki Paradon aims to be more than a nostalgic commemoration. It seeks to reestablish, through contemporary creative work, the bridge built between languages, generations, and cultures.
From October 8–10, book stalls at Naregyan Hall will feature Jamanak, Nor Marmara, Agos, Paros, and Luys TV. The Hrant Dink Foundation Publications, Patriarchate Publications, and the T.E.A.O. Teachers’ Mutual Aid Foundation will also participate in the festival with their publications.
Nork and Turkuaz as antique booksellers (sahaf) will display selections of old Armenian publications, periodicals, and rare ephemera. Paplig, with its children’s literature publications, as well as various independent publishers, will also take part in the festival.
Panels and open workshops
A number of panels will be held at Naregyan Hall as part of the festival. In the session titled “Will You Tell Us About Your Kitchen?”, newspaper editors-in-chief and editors will discuss the lesser known aspects of editorial work and the backstage processes of producing a newspaper.
At the gathering titled “Meeting with Translators on Translators’ Day,” literary translators will discuss the challenges they encounter, expressions considered “untranslatable,” and the future of translation in the age of artificial intelligence. Events aimed at high school students will also be held as part of the festival.
Open to all book lovers, researchers, and literature enthusiasts, the festival can be visited free of charge from October 8–10 at the Naregyan Hall of the Beyoğlu Üç Horan Church Foundation.
