J.P. Der Boghossian
Speaker, aspiring writer, founder of the Queer Armenian Library, and host of the podcast This Queer Book Saved My Life!
The Queer Armenian Library is the world’s first digital library dedicated exclusively to literature by, about, and for Queer Armenians.
J.P. has spoken throughout the Midwest on a variety of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion topics: how to develop intercultural competency skills, LGBTQ health equity, racial equity, implicit biases, and culturally responsive organizations. His recent essays are featured in The Sun Isn't Out Long Enough (Anamot Press) We Are All Armenian: Voices from the Armenian Diaspora (University of Texas Press) and Emerge (Lambda Literary). He is currently working on a collection of essays: A Home at the Beginning of the World. He hosts the podcasts This Queer Book Saved My Life! and 7 Minutes in Book Heaven.
"I wanted the right words, written in the right way, to describe what was happening to me in the ambiguous spaces of conjunctions and hyphens. Queer and Armenian-American."
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Literary moment or literary movement?
As part of their Celebrating Pride series, the Armenian Institute kindly invited me to submit the following short essay. I am grateful for their support....
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Writing what I know (and hope to know)
My writing career started in broadcast journalism, working at WPBN-TV and WXMI TV. But in the summer of 2018, I began to study creative nonfiction...
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Buy your copy today!
"Perhaps the idea of a Queer Armenian literary movement is an overreach, too grandiose. But despite the diversity of styles, subject matter, and mediums, a consistent thread throughout Queer Armenian writing is its audacity to imagine, love, and speak necessary truths."
My Journey
At first, I wanted to be an actor. I studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (Los Angeles) and twice attended the British American Drama Academy (Oxford, England) on scholarship. I graduated from the American Academy with their two highest honors: the Charles Jehlinger Award and the Spencer Tracy scholarship. I started life as a classically trained Shakespearean actor. But then, I found actual work in broadcast journalism. Over...
"The world is a dangerous place and there are villains out there. But he asked me, 'how can we not give them so much power? Not to excuse their behavior or dismiss the idea that they should be responsible for their actions, but to use EMDR to understand the context, to see that what they did wasn’t about you.' As I stared out a window, he hung these words onto my silence: How can we live with our wounds and not have them govern us?" ~ From my essay "The Words"
Recent Events
A selected list of recent engagements from London, Traverse City (Michigan), and Minneapolis. To inquire about my availability please use the contact form.
Arachneer or “Firsts”
I am proud to say I moderated Arachneer (which means "firsts" in Armenian). This event (a reading and panel) featured Armen Ohanyan, Kamee...
Putting up the guardrails
I called this keynote talk for the Michigan Academic Advising Association "Putting up the guardrails" to share how we can't "eliminate" implicit biases....
Thriving through culturally responsive coaching
I gave this talk to the Minnesota Career Development Association's Transformative Tuesdays conference in April 2021. Due to COVID-19, they transformed their annual...
Finding the words
The Armenian Institute (London) invited me to speak about the creation of the Queer Armenian Library. Through my own personal narrative of living...
Hallmarks of culturally responsive organizations
In this talk for Traverse Connect, I discussed some truths about what does and doesn’t work when it comes to diversity, equity, and...