Derenik Demirchian

Derenik Karapeti Demirchian (; , 1877 – December 6, 1956) was a Soviet and Armenian writer, novelist, poet, translator and playwright. He began his career as a poet, but later transitioned into prose writing. He was a prolific writer whose works deal with a wide variety of subjects. He is perhaps best known for his historical novel Vardanank, which is a dramatization of the 5th-century Armenian rebellion led by Vardan Mamikonian.

Life and career

Early life and education

Derenik Demirchian (originally Demirchoghlian) was born on February 18, 1877, in Akhalkalaki in the region of Javakheti in southern Georgia, then a part of the Russian Empire. He received his primary education at his hometown's Armenian parish school. Two years after finishing school, he moved to Ardahan (then a part of the Russian Empire, now in Turkey), where he continued his education under S. Ter-Meliksedekian. In 1892, he was accepted into the Gevorgian Seminary in Etchmiadzin, where he was taught by the poet Hovhannes Hovhannisyan, who influenced Demirchian's views on literature. While at the seminary, he became familiar with world literature, reading authors such as Lermontov, Pushkin, Tolstoy, Goethe, Heine, Byron, and Shakespeare. In 1898, he graduated from the Nersisian School in Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi), then worked in Ardahan. In 1903, he worked as a cafeteria administrator at a factory in Baku owned by the Russian Armenian businessman Alexander Mantashev. However, he gained widespread popularity with his play Kaj Nazar (Nazar the Brave), The writer received a number of state honors and medals for his literary achievements. In 1953, he became a member of the Armenian SSR Academy of Sciences. The annual Derenik Demirchian State Prize was established in 1980.

Plays Vasak, 1912 Azgayin khaytarakutyun (National disgrace), 1919 Hovnan Metsatun (Wealthy Hovnan), 1919 Datastan (Judgement), 1922 Kaj Nazar (Nazar the Brave), 1923 Haghtakan siro yerge (The song of victorious love), 1927 Fosforayin shogh (Phosphoric ray), 1932 Kaputan, 1938 Yerkir hayreni (Fatherland), 1939 Napoleon Korkotyan, 1934 Enkerner (Comrades), 1942