(in Russian — https://miaban.ru/communities/petersburg/adyan_14-10-2018/)
On October 14, 2018, in the cultural center “Vernatun” of the Armenian community of St. Petersburg, Russia a new documentary film “Writer Levon Adyan” was shown with the presentation of his new book of stories and novellas “The Dark Seagull”.
The works of Levon Adyan are filled with purity, sincerity and wisdom. They are valuable not only for Armenian readers, but also for numerous literature lovers. Therefore, the writer translates and publishes his books also in Russian, helping readers to look into their inner world, clearing it thanks to the read lines from the litter of vanity, ridiculous insults and far-fetched worries in order to become closer to a true understanding of their own life.
Levon Adian, in the opinion of the poet Eduard Poghosyan, being a truly original, national writer with a deep knowledge of historical material, is essentially a living classic of Armenian literature. The novel-requiem “Moving away shore” is practically the only major artistic documentary work about the terrible hell in Azerbaijan in the late 1980s, about the brutal persecution, extermination and massacre of the Armenian people, about its exodus from its land — about genocidal policies and genocidal acts in Azerbaijan, about the truth, which has been silenced, obscured, distorted for 30 years. In addition to the novel, he is the author of many novellas, dozens of short stories, hundreds of miniatures. In recent years, the publishing house Renome has published three books by the author translated in Russian. In the same publishing house in the translation of Nelli Avakova, his novel “The Valley of Love” will be released soon, again about the life of people of their native land — Artsakh (Karabakh). The novel “Moving away shore” is currently being translated into English. It should be noted that Levon Adian is extremely sociable and with an active civil position. Some of his interviews are on the page.
At the beginning of the event, Levon Adian spoke.
Video fragment (in Russian, 8 mins)
After that, one hour film was shown, made by the famous American film director Vahe Khachatryan.
The filming took place both in Artsakh and St. Petersburg, as well as in US, where Levon Adyan made a presentation of his books and was accepted into the Union of Armenian writers of the USA. The producer of the film is Nelly Avakova. Filming in Artsakh was led by Benik Garakhanyan, a miniature of the writer “My Kenakhach” in the movie was read by Ani Mangasaryan. Part of the videos was provided by Artsakh State TV. Interview with different people was made by a journalist, the leading of the show on Armenian TV Marika Avetisyan (USA), in that number, with a poet Nelli Avakova, a Chairman of the Artsakh Union of Writers Vardan Hakopyan, a public figure of Artsakh Mikael Hadjyan, a professor Sokrat Khanyan, a writer Maksim Hovhannisyan, with an artist Robert Hovhannisyan, with Kseniya Brodatskaya, Nvard Avakyan, Vardan Gharajyan, Ashot Nersisyan, Vahan Babakhanyan, Agasi Sukhiasyan, etc.
After watching a few people spoke: Sergey Golubev, Eduard Poghosyan, Larisa Matevosyan, Eduard Mosesov, Elmira Beglaryan, Veronika Kostareva, Hasmik Khatchaturyan, etc. Also spoke the foreign guests of the Armenian community Lyudmila Tsaukalas from America and Nona Shahnazaryan, a researcher at the Institute of Ethnography of the Armenian Academy of Sciences.
Discussions continued at the festive dinner. And before that, the writer signed his new book of stories and novels “The Dark Seagull” with an autograph to the participants of the event. In them, Levon Adian describes with special trembling a small but proud land — Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), surrounded by mountains, fabulous nature with its cold springs, turbulent rivers, thick cool forests, flowering meadows… And against the background of such beauty — the difficult fate of courageous people of Karabakh, their hopes and aspirations, joys and heartache, and all this is subtly and skillfully conveyed in the images of the heroes, faced with many difficulties, but unbroken…
As usual, Levon Adyan does not sell his books, he distributes all his books for free.
The writer’s works can be read on the Internet http://bvahan.com/adyan/povesti.asp
The event on October 14 in the Armenian community of St. Petersburg aroused a keen public interest towards the works of Levon Adyan, and the hall of the cultural center «Vernatun» was full. Partially was conducted a live via Facebook: each of several video fragments has been watched by hundreds of users just during the first hours:
- first (beginning, 9 mins)
- second (film preview, 2 mins)
- third (film preview, 5 mins)
- forth (speeches by participants of the event, 31 mins)
Most of the photos are by Vardan Gharajyan.
