Memories About Derenik Demirchian

Nairi Zarian (Hayastan Yeghiazaryan) was born in the village of Kharakonis in the Van vilayet of Western Armenia. In 1915 he survived the Armenian Genocide and migrated to Eastern Armenia. Until 1921 he found shelter in the orphanages of Dilijan and Yerevan. In 1927 he graduated from the Faculty of History and Literature of Yerevan State University, and in 1933 completed postgraduate studies in the literary department of the Leningrad (now St Petersburg) State Academy of Art Studies. In 1927–28 he was executive secretary of a number of journals, and in 1934–36 editor of the journal "Grakan serund" (Literary Generation). In 1933 he was elected executive secretary of the presidium of the organising committee of the Writers' Union of Armenia. In 1944–46 he was chairman of the Writers' Union of Armenia, and in 1951–58 a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR. His first poems were printed in 1918 in the Tiflis newspaper "Van-Tosp". In 1926 his first collection, "Jrantsqi kapuyt yerkrum" (In the Blue Land of the Canal), was published. Translations are an integral part of his literary legacy. The writer's works have been translated into many languages. He received the State Prize of the Republic of Armenia, the Order of Lenin (1935) and the Order of the Badge of Honour (1939). In 1962 Nairi Zarian was awarded the title of Honored Art Worker of the Armenian SSR.