On Wednesday, October 14, 2015 Hamazkayin Lebanon’s Central Executives organized a literary reading evening of Krikor Beledian’s “Topography” and “Mantras”. The event was held in Hamazkayin’s “Gomidas” chapter’s hall with the presence of a modest studious crowd.
Seta Ounjian-Khdeshian gave the welcoming remarks. After cordially greeting the guests, she stated that this is the last of Krikor Beledian’s organized literary events in Beirut.
Shaghig Mgerditchian was next to speak. She stated that the series of events organized with Krikor Beledian not only gave the audience a chance to get to know the author but also his work. She stated: “after spending time reviewing and analysing the work, tonight we see his work, through reading excerpts”. Shaghig Mgerditchian stated that Beledian’s “ Topography for a City Being Destroyed” that was first published in 1976 and later re-published in 1997, speaks of Beirut’s destruction during Lebanon’s civil war. She said if we look through pages of this work, we could see the destruction of the city through the destroyed sentences.
She then invited Norvan Archbishop Zakarian to present and read excerpts from the book “Topography”. Summarising Beledian’s words, the Archbishop said: “He manages to depict our people’s survival through the earth and he attempts to present our will to keep and preserve our identity in the diasporan reality.