BIRTH OF RUBEN HOVSEPIAN

Ruben Hovsepian was one of the notable figures of the so-called “youth prose” in Armenia during the 1970s. He was born on May 5, 1939, in Yerevan. In 1956, he graduated from high school No. 1 in the city of Hoktemberian, and in 1956–57 he worked at the city’s machine-building factory. He graduated from the Faculty of Geology at Yerevan State University in 1962 and worked as a geologist in Turkmenistan for the next two years. Afterwards, he devoted himself to journalism and literature. 

In 1965, he published his first volume of novellas and short stories, entitled Searches. He worked as head of the arts and literature department of the newspaper Avangard (1965–1966), as a roving correspondent for Grakan Tert (1966–1969), and as head of the prose department of the journal Sovetakan Grakanutiun (1970–1974). In 1968, he became a member of the Writers’ Union of Armenia. 

After attending the High Courses for Scriptwritng in Moscow (1974–1975), he returned to Armenia and served as chief editor of youth programs at the State Committee for Television and Radio (1975–1976), and from 1976 to 1979 he worked on the editorial staff of the newspaper Yeterum e Yerevane.  

He was chief editor of the publishing house Sovedakan Grogh from 1982 to 1987. In 1988–1989, he was secretary of the Writers’ Union of Armenia, and in 1989 he assumed the editorship of the journal Nork (formerly Sovedakan Grakanutiun), which he led until his death. 

After independence, he entered the political arena, joining the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, and served as a deputy of the National Assembly (2000–2007). In 2006, he was awarded the President of Armenia’s Prize, and in 2009 he received the Movses Khorenatsi Medal. In 2014, he was granted the title of Honored Cultural Figure of the Republic of Armenia. 

Hovsepian’s prose is characterized by its treatment of contemporary themes. His major works include The Wine Press (1972), The Hottest Country (1977), The Seagulls (1980), Under the Apricot Trees (2006), and Pomegranates (2016). The film The Wine Press (1973) was produced based on his screenplay. 

He translated, from Russian, the famous Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez’s novels One Hundred Years of Solitude and The Autumn of the Patriarch, both of which were highly acclaimed. 

He died on October 27, 2016, in Yerevan.