Zareh Yaldizciyan (10 May 1924 – 20 February 2007), Զարէհ Եալտըզճեան, better known by his pen name Zahrad (Armenian: Զահրատ), was a poet who lived in Turkey and wrote poems in the Armenian language.[1][2]
Zahrad | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Zareh Yaldizciyan 10 May 1924 Constantinople, Turkey |
| Died | 20 February 2007 (aged 82) Istanbul, Turkey |
| Pen name |
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| Occupation | Poet |
| Language | Armenian |
Biography
Of Armenian descent, Zahrad was born in the Nişantaşı district of Istanbul, Turkey.[3] His father, Movses, had been a jurist, adviser, and translator for the Ottoman Foreign Ministry.[3] However, he had lost his father at the age of three.[4] His mother, Ankine, was from the district of Samatya. Zahrad grew up with his maternal grandfather Levon Vartanyan.[3]
In 1942 he graduated from Özel Pangaltı Ermeni Lisesi, the local Mechitarist Armenian lyceum.[4][5] He attended the Faculty University of Medicine in Istanbul but left in order to work.[4][5] Due to the fear that his family wouldn't appreciate the fact that he wanted to be a poet, he changed his pen name to "Zahrad". In November 1963, he married Anayis Antreasian.[3]
Legacy
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Levon Ananyan, the president of the Writers Union of Armenia, characterized Zahrad as "the huge oak tree of diasporan poetry, whose literary heritage had a deep and stable influence upon modern poetry of not only the diaspora, but also Armenia."[6][7] Writer and journalist Rober Haddeciyan is quoted as saying, "all the roads taken by our poems don't lead to Rome, but to Zahrad".[3] His poetry has been translated into 22 languages.[8]
President of Armenia Robert Kocharian has awarded Zahrad with the Movses Khorenatsi medal for his contribution to Armenian literature and culture.[9]
Works
- «Մեծ քաղաքը» (Big City, Istanbul, 1960)
- «Գունաւոր սահմաններ» (Colored Borders, Istanbul, 1968)
- «Բարի Երկինք» (Kind Sky, Istanbul, 1971)
- «Կանանչ հող» (Green Soil, Paris, 1976)
- «Մէկ քարով երկու գարուն» (Two Springs with One Stone, Istanbul, 1989)
- «Մաղ մը ջուր» (A Sieve of Water, Istanbul, 1995)
- «Ծայրը ծայրին» (A Tight Fit, Istanbul, 2001)
- «Ջուրը պատէն վեր» (Water Up the Wall, Istanbul, 2004)[4]
- «Մարկոս եւ Մարկոս» (Marc and Marc, ?, ?)