Role: Author

Zabel Khanjian, later Zabel Asadour, was born on July 23, 1863 in Scutari, a suburb of Constantinople, and educated in local French and Armenian schools. In 1879 when she was 16 years old, she joined with eight school friends to form the National Armenian Women’s Union which helped to establish girls’ schools and orphanages in the Armenian provinces. She became a well-known teacher and proponent of education, publishing with her husband, Hrand Asadour, a series of highly acclaimed Armenian language and literature textbooks. She also wrote journalism, fiction, and poetry under various pen-names including “Sybil,” “Anahit,” and “Miss Alice.” Her publications included novels such as True Feminism and A Girl’s Heart; a short story collection, Women’s Souls; and a volume of poetry, Reflections. The composition dates of her plays are uncertain. She died on June 19, 1934. Four years later, Hairenik Press in Boston published the Armenian version of her play The Bride, a lively comedy about a bride from the country who moves into her husband’s comfortable home in the big city but refuses to accept the traditional posture of submission to her mother-in-law’s authority. The Bride was first performed in English in 1986 at the Diocese of the Armenian Church in New York.

Yuri Sahakyan is one of the best-loved children’s poets in contemporary Armenia. He is the author of more than forty booklets for children. Many of his poems have become songs. The poet has also translated poems of different nations into Armenian, but his works are translated into English for the first time. His poetry has deep philosophy, where the author underlines people’s faulty shortcomings with kind humor. His works are read with pleasure by children and adults.\