With Charents' Papers

Born in the city of Van in Western Armenia. G. Mahari received his primary education at the local "Norashen" and "Yeremian" schools. After the heroic defence of Van in 1915 he emigrated to Eastern Armenia and grew up in orphanages in Yerevan and Dilijan. He studied at the Faculty of History and Philology of Yerevan State University. From 1918 he published poems in the newspapers "Ashkhatank" ("Labour"), "Van-Tosp" and others. His literary activity was interrupted in 1936, when, as a result of Stalinist repression, he was sentenced on unfounded charges to 11 years' imprisonment and ended up in the prison camps of remote Siberia. G. Mahari returned from his first prison exile in 1947. Exactly 444 days after his return, in 1949, G. Mahari was again exiled to Siberia. In 1954 G. Mahari was exonerated and returned to Yerevan, where he lived and wrote until his death. From 1934 he was a member of the Union of Writers of the USSR; in 1963 he was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honour, and in 1956 the medal "For Excellence". He died in Palanga (Lithuania) and is buried in Yerevan.