[Newmag Summer Fest] Ruben Ishkhanyan: Why do Armenian and Russian writers not know each other? (video in Armenian)

Oracle publishing house has been in the publishing field since 1994. Ruben Ishkhanyan believes that one of the most popular books of the last few years was Vladimir Pozner’s “Parting with Illusions” biography. That’s how the partnership with Newmag kicked off. After publishing the Armenian translation of Pozner’s book, the two publishing houses started to work together. “Initially, we have published two books with Newmag - Narine Abgaryan’s “Three Apples Fell from the Sky” and Guzel Yakhina’s “Zuleikha”. Recently, we have also presented to our readers Mikhail Zygar’s “All the Kremlin’s Men” book.”

One of the first publications in the scope of this cooperation is Narine Abgaryan’s “Three Apples Fell from the Sky”. Another book written by Narine Abgaryan - “Simon”, was published this summer. Ishkhanyan assures that new books will be published soon.“A state-level support is needed in order to translate Armenian books into Russian and Russian works into Armenian. For instance, Hrant Matevosyan was very close to Andrei Bitov and their books were translated. Bitov continued to write about Armenia until he passed away. Nowadays, the contemporary writers don’t really know each other. The new generation of writers don’t have any information about our problems and daily life, that is why they don’t write about Armenia. The same is true for Armenian writers.” 

Another problem arises when, for example, a Russian director wants to stage one of Sundukyan’s plays, but faces a language barrier. The play is not translated into Russian. Ruben Ishkhanyan claims that the main goal of the “Oracle” book series is to play the role of a so-called literary bridge. “Armenian writers should be introduced in Russia. The reality of the two countries can be captured through books. That is why we decided to translate Zygar's work to show the real picture of modern Russia.”

In the scope of “Oracle” book series various Russian contemporary writers will soon be translated and published in Armenian. The most famous writers and the most discussed books will become available to the Armenian reader. This is yet another essential milestone in the attempt to restore the Armenian-Russian literary ties, which have been shattered in recent years.