Role: Author

Vahan Totovents, one of the leading Armenian writers of this century, was first introduced to the English reader with a translation of his masterpiece, Scenes from an Armenian Childhood, published by the Oxford University Press in 1962 (reissued by the Mashtots Press in 1980). It was an outstanding literary success and secured the highest critical acclaim in such prominent papers as 'The Times Literary Supplement', 'The Guardian', 'Daily Telegraph', and a host of others.

Vahé Baladouni has contributed to a number of Middle Eastern Armenian literary periodicals, and translated the poetry and prose of writers such as Shakespeare, Shelley, and Wilde into Armenian in Translations (1973). He compiled and edited Hmayeak Shems: Entir Erker [Hmayeak Shems: Select Works] (1994); translated (with John Gery) Shems's prose poems into Engish, For the House of Torkom (1999); and helped publish several of Shems's works in Erevan, Armenia, (2001-2004).

Vahe Berberian, with his long, soft-gray, braided hair and strong, angular features immediately attracts attention. But, it is his personality and his work that captures peoples’ hearts. Vahé Berberian is an Armenian painter, author, playwright and actor. Born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1955 and relocated to Los Angeles in 1976. Vahé has studied art in both Lebanon and the United States, receiving a degree in journalism with honors in 1980. Vahé has participated in more than 30 individual and group exhibitions throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and the Middle East. Berberian has always painted as a complement to writing and acting, never able to forfeit one form of art for another. “Theatre is conditional on what others do, and its temporality is limiting, whereas painting is personal, direct and does not need a mediator. However, each form feeds on the other, pushing its influence into the world of the other.” Vahe Berberian’s literal work includes the novels, “Hanoun Hor Yev Vortvo” and “Namagner Zaataren” and the plays, “Pink Elephant” and the recently staged, “Baron Garbis.”