by Tamar Donabedian Kouzouian
In December, the Hamazkayin Book Lovers’ Group met to talk about the accomplishments of the past year and envisioning future programming. The topic that prevailed was love. Many of the book lovers had newly stepped into adulthood, so the topic was not all that surprising. It’s been a joy in previous gatherings to hear young people recite poetry about love and so it was easy to reach a consensus that our next program should carry the title, “Love.”
At a time when chaos and brutality reach new heights in our world, on February 1, 2026, on the feast of St. Sarkis, a group of book lovers addressed love for an hour and a half. “Love” breathed new life into 32 literary works at the Hamazkayin “H. Manougian” Library, and it brought together numerous attendees.
One of the supreme universal human emotions, love has its place in Armenian literature. The story of Ara the Beautiful and Shamiram (Semiramis), and Toumanian’s “Akhtamar” are well-known examples. Over the ages, hayrens, short stories, novels, and countless poems have been composed about love. The personal lives of some poets are themselves remarkable love stories. Their letters bear witness to intense love. The letters of Vahan Derian, Matteos Zarifian, and Paruyr Sevak are great examples. During an earlier “Letters” gathering, a small sample was presented.
“Love” presented an especially coordinated weave of the works of twenty writers characterizing various perspectives and spiritual states. For example, under Medzarents’s pen, love is a dream and an aspiration; for Tekeyan, love is a hidden and deep experience; in Kaputikyan’s lines, love is anger and pain; under Maro Markarian’s pen, love is life. As Karapents used to say, “Everyone has their own unique love.”
Eleven young people sat in the front row, each impatient to present their piece. Shant Deukmejian opened the gathering with the poem “To My Beloved” and gave attendees the opportunity to guess the identity of the author. It was Toronto resident Krikor Hotoyan. Shant continued by presenting an excerpt from the hayrens of the famous 16th-century ashough Nahabed Kouchag, and thus the ball of yarn is unraveled. Each presentation is accompanied by brief information about the author and a corresponding illustrated slide.
Bedros Tourian is considered one of the greats of Western Armenian poetry. Having barely knocked on the door of youth, he fell victim to tuberculosis at the age of twenty. In the finely woven lines of the “Nightingale of Üsküdar,” love is a newly blooming dream, sparks, which however are doomed to a sad end. Successively we hearդ the poems “To Love” and “Little Lake,” interpreted by Haig Haroutiunian and Mosig Danadian.
Misak Medzarents’s creations are vibrations of love, mild tremblings, dreamy and clear, where the poet yearns to wrap his otherwise sad heart in the light of love. Sad because in his case, too, youth and death had arrived simultaneously to knock on his door. The poems “Moment,” “Tremblings,” and “Days of Dream” were successively presented by Shant Deukmejian, Haig Haroutiunian, and Elena Farajian.
Hagop Baronian is considered a great embodiment of Armenian satirical genius. This is how he is described; yet, during his destitute and extremely ill days, there was no one to help him. Marina Khachoyan, a newer member of the group, read a few paragraphs on love from Baronian’s satire.
Still in Constantinople, we turn to the tender singer of love, Matteos Zarifian. The poet fought tuberculosis for ten years and died young, so it is not surprising that for Zarifian, love and sorrow proceeded in parallel. His poems “Love” and “Didn’t I Say?” were interpreted by Mosig Danadian and Elena Farajian.
According to Paruyr Sevak,
We always meet our beloved in life by chance,
And we bid our beloved farewell by necessity.
Poems on love are an essential part of Sevak’s oeuvre. Hrag Karamardian recited the poem “You,” written in 1958, dedicated to Paruyr’s second wife, Nelly.
For Vahan Tekeyan, love is a secret garden. The life and works of Tekeyan, an expressive Western Armenian poet of deep feelings, an editor, and an educational worker, bear witness to an introspective and sensitive man who kept his love hidden in the depths of his heart. The works “I Loved” and “Your Name” were successively presented by Shant Deukmejian and Alik Baboghlian.
The nocturne or night song is a musical composition where the nocturnal environment is dominant. The night song naturally envelopes the listener with feelings of love. The Irish musician John Field is considered the founder of this musical style. We listened to Nocturne in B-flat Major performed by Lara Der Minassian; a good prelude to Alicia Kirakosyan’s poem “I Want Desperately,” interpreted by Alik Baboghlian.
Born in Cordoba, Kirakosyan won recognition in Armenian literary circles when Vahagn Davtyan’s Armenian translation of her book Root and Essence was published. Kirakosyan wrote mostly in Spanish about love and the homeland. Alik continued with the poem. “With Your Eyes.”
The story of doctor, poet, and prose writer Roupen Sevag and his wife Yanni Apel is itself a romantic novel. Antranig Dzarougian’s work Love in Catastrophe is based on the life of the couple. From the volume, The Book of Love, “The Right Love” makes one think whether there is a right or wrong love. Sevag says there is. We heard the poem interpreted by Lara Der Minassian. Continuing with Sevag, Zhbid Keshishian presented the poem, “Happiness.”
It was Maro Markarian’s turn. The Armenian poet, teacher, and translator Maro Markarian lived from 1915 to 1999. For her, love is life. “If there is no love, I do not exist in the world,” she declaimed in her poem “Love and Life”; Lara Der Minassian recited it.
And when do we feel that we no longer love? Here is the opposite side of the topic. Writer, editor, and translator Aramayis Sahakian has written numerous collections about love. Elena Farajian presented the poem “Feel That You No Longer Love Them.”
For Silva Kaputikyan, “Poet of all Armenians,” love was stormy and sad. Gabriella Batigian presented three poems where the listener encounters different spiritual states: “Come!, Come!”, “You Left,” and “If I Don’t Love.”
The wife of the renowned pianist and composer Arno Babajanian, Tereza Hovhannisyan, was also a pianist and an organist. She had a great future in her field ahead of her but chose to dedicate herself to her beloved husband. That too may be a form of love. Elena Farajian played “Impromptu.”
Vahan Derian’s creations have been and continue to be an inseparable part of loving hearts. They are finely woven melodies, where it seems that love, longing, and pain proceed hand in hand. Derian’s talent was highly appreciated from the very first day. It’s a pity that at the age of thirty-five, tuberculosis snatched him, too. Hrag Karamardian presented the poems “It Is Sweeter to Die For You Than to Live” and “To Forget,” after which Marina Khachoyan turned the page toward prose.
Khachoyan presented an excerpt from the story “The Blue Bead” by Hamastegh, considered the greatest Armenian village writer. Born in Kharpert, he lived the majority of his life in the United States. Still, the village, with its characters, customs, and lifestyle comes alive in his stories so much that it might seem to the reader that Hamastegh never lived outside it.
Native landscapes and human experiences dominate in the works of the lyricist Hamo Sahyan. Sahyan collaborated with a series of newspapers and magazines. He is the author of numerous volumes of poetry. Mosig Danadian and Zhbid Keshishian successively recited the poems “First Love” and “My First Love.”
The theme of first loves continued. Born in Gyumri, Hovhannes Grigoryan is the author of numerous collections, including children’s works. He started writing from an early age. Gabriella Batigian presented his poem about first love from the series “Requiem.” In this work, love, longing, and the night appear within one framework.
On occasions we have referred to Zahrad’s creations, where we encounter diverse topics concerning human life and relationships. Alik Baboghlian presented “Gaghantchek” from among his unique poems, where the poet is ready to wait for another hundred New Years on the sole condition that he knows, “that you know that I am waiting, my love.” Love is patient.
Panos Jeranian is the next author; born in Bourj Hammoud, he resides in Montreal. He pursued higher education at the American University of Beirut and also attended the Armenology course at Haigazian College in Beirut. He collaborated with Hamazkayin’s literary magazine Pakin. Marina Khachoyan interpreted, “The Jasmine’s Song.”
The program approaches its end. With his thoughtful mind and pleasant style of storytelling, prose writer Hakob Karapents was able to occupy his worthy place in diaspora Armenian literature. Born in Tabriz, he was one of the founders of the Armenian Cultural “Ararat” Organization. He received his higher education in the United States and went on to work for the Voice of America. Anna Danadian, among the newer members of the group, read from his reflections on love: “Everyone has an unwritten novel of love. Everyone has their own unique love. These diverse loves are what makes the world go round.”
Concluding, Roupen Sevag’s lines make us see that tomorrow is too late; today is the time to live and love. With Lara Der Minassian’s interpretation of the poem “Tomorrow” and the ensuing thunderous applause, the gathering bearing the title “Love” came to an end, thus also completing the 14th anniversary of the founding of the Hamazkayin Book Lovers’ Group.
This correspondence was published in the March 2026 (#223) issue of Torontohay.