ZABEL YESAYAN
1878 - 1943
Zabel Yessayan (alternate spellings: Yessaian, Esayan, Essayan, etc.), a gifted novelist who was considered the female counterpart to Krikor Zohrab, was born in Scutari, a district of Constantinople. From an early age, she wanted to be a writer and as early as age 17 she published a short piece in a literary magazine. She obtained higher education in Paris where she worked her way through the Sorbonne by revising a French-Armenian dictionary and by writing articles and short stories for French and Armenian magazines. She returned to Constantinople at the age of 30 to enjoy an active literary life, well recognized for her talent. The Young Turks ranked her with Zohrab, Zartarian, Siamanto and Varoujan and placed her name – the only female writer – on their list for liquidation. She escaped to Bulgaria and from there managed to reach the Caucasus where she documented much of the atrocities taking place...
Other essays
and biographies by Ruth Bedevian:
Khachatur Abovian
Khrimian Hayrig
Hovhannes Hovhannesyan
Mikael Nalbandyan
Arshak Chobanyan
Petros Duryan
