Nairi Zarian

Nairi Zarian
Birth name	Hayastan Yeghiazarian
Name in Armenian	Նաիրի Զարյան
Birthplace	Kharakonis
Birth date	31 December 1900
Death date	1969/07/12
Death year	1969
Education	Yerevan State University
Languages	Armenian, Russian
Ethnicities	Armenian
Dialects	Eastern Armenian, Western Armenian
Ancestral villages	Kharakonis

Նաիրի Զարյան (b. 1900 Van, Turkey - d. 1969 Yerevan, Armenia)

Armenian writer Nairi Zaryan (or Zarian, born Hayastan Yeghiazarian), a contemporary of Charents, Mahari, and Bakunts, was, like Mahari, a native of Van. After the Genocide he spent his childhood in Yerevan orphanages and was the sole survivor of his family. He continued his education at the Yerevan State University, graduating in 1927. After four years of editorial work he attended (1931 to 1933) the University of Leningrad. Then in Yerevan he became secretary of the Writers' Union. He published novels and plays in addition to several books of poetry.

Zarian was a tragic figure and may be called the last victim of the era of Stalin's cult of personality. All his life rumors circulated, neither proved nor completely disproved, accusing him of betraying fellow writers to the secret police. Ironically, his article, "The Dark Legend," which he felt would clear his name, was not published until the year of his death, and it was published in the diaspora, in Beirut's Naiyiri Magazine.

Armenian journalist Mary Zaryan is the grand-daughter of Nairi Zaryan.

External Links

http://armenianpoetry.com/arm/Nayri_Zaryan/ (in Armenian)