Saint Stepanos Armenian Church hosted a book signing for author Rina Gallo
On Sunday, March 19, 2023, Saint Stepanos Armenian Church hosted a book signing for author Rina Gallo for her novel, The Heart of a Rock. The first of a four-book series called The Stone and the Songbird, the novel tells the story of two teenagers and their journey through adolescence during the Armenian Genocide. This was Rina Gallo’s first book signing after publishing the book in 2020 on Amazon right before the Covid pandemic.
The event started with an introduction by Father Daniel Karadjian, who summarized the novel, introduced the audience to the author, and read a review written of the novel from an Amazon customer and reader. He soon handed the microphone to the author’s cousin, Haig Bakhtiarian, who gave a brief biography of Rina’s early life, her current path as a prelaw student at Rutgers University, how she found inspiration to write the novel, and her education at Saint Stepanos Armenian and Sunday Schools. After the introduction, Rina herself spoke, expressing her gratitude to the parishioners for their support and providing a more detailed story about her journey as a writer and how her Armenian culture impacted her passion to write a story centered around the Armenian Genocide. She finished her speech with an overview of the publishing process, her excitement to finally be able to hold book signings after the pandemic caused delays, and her gratitude to her family, friends, supporters, and the church for hosting this event.
Rina then led a brief question and answer session with the audience and gave them additional detail about certain aspects of her novel and the writing/publishing process. Following the questions, Father Karadjian projected a recording he had made of the author’s grandfather, Haroot Mouradian, which consisted of an interview surrounding his role in his granddaughter’s novel. Mr. Mouradian spoke about the times his granddaughter came to him for help on her research process, and expressed his pride in her achievement of writing and publishing a novel during her teenage years. After the video was over, Rina’s older sister, Carine Gallo, spoke about her perspective regarding her sister’s accomplishment, discussing her sister’s long-time passion for writing. She finished her remarks by reading a letter from parishioner Dr. Tavit Najarian, which complimented Rina on this significant accomplishment. Finally, Rina read an excerpt from her novel, after which Father Karadjian presented her with flowers.
To conclude the event, Rina signed copies of her book. Taking photos with her fellow churchgoers and speaking with them, she connected with her readers and engaged in a conversation surrounding her novel and the nature of her writing at large. The event was a great success both for Rina’s writing career and for Saint Stepanos Armenian Church. It was a wonderful occasion for Armenians of all ages to connect with one another over shared history and the art of literature.
