Zahrad | |
---|---|
Born | Zareh Yaldizciyan 10 May 1924 Constantinople, Turkey |
Died | 20 February 2007 Istanbul, Turkey | (aged 82)
Pen name |
|
Occupation | Poet |
Language | Armenian |
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]
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]
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]