YEREVAN, JANUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. American poet and teacher Arto Vaun, who studied at the University of Massachusetts Boston and in the past three years lives in Yerevan, decided to open the Center for Creative Writing at the American University of Armenia, Boston Globe reports.

Vaun says his primary goal is to help reinvigorate the cultural potency of the former Soviet republic. In the process of developing the new program, Vaun discovered there wasn’t a high-quality English literary journal in that part of the world, so he started one. The first issue of the recently launched Locomotive showcases work by writers from Denmark, Sweden, Hungary, the UK.

“Art can change the world. Literature can change the world. Because it does that all the time”, Vaun says.