Armen, Mkrtich

(pseudonym of Mkrtich Grigor’evich Arutiunian). Born Dec. 14 (27), 1906, in Aleksandropol’, now Leninakan. Armenian Soviet writer. Born into the family of an artisan.

From 1930 to 1932 Armen studied at the Moscow Institute of Cinematography. His works were first published in 1925 (the collection of verse Shirkanal). At the same time he organized the literary group October in Leninakan, which soon became affiliated with the November group of E. Charents. His published novellas include Zubeida (1928), Scout No. 89 (1933), and The First Pioneers and The Egnar Spring (1935). The novel lasva, about the feats of labor of the peoples of the Far North during the Great Patriotic War, appeared in 1953. He translated the works of M. Sholokhov and A. Fadeev into Armenian. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.