Suren Vauni

(pseudonym of Suren Vaganovich Khachikian). Born Dec. 27, 1910, in the village of Pashalu, now the settlement of Azizbekov, Armenian SSR. Soviet Armenian poet, publicist, and translator. Honored Cultural Worker of the Armenian SSR.

Vauni’s father was a teacher. He began to publish in 1926. His first collection was Two Songs (1930) and the second, War Songs (1938). Ballad of a Partisan, His Wife, and His Horse (1933) and Ballad of a Blue-eyed Boy and the Sun (1933) are devoted to the Civil War. In the poems Song About Soldiers’ Boots (1943), Volga, and Soviet Armenia (1943) and the collection To the West (1943) the heroic days, thoughts, and aspirations of the Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War are portrayed. Vauni wrote the poems White House (1948), Sevan (1949), and others. He translated The Lay of the Host of Igor, Pushkin’s The Fountain of Bakhchisarai, and G. Boccaccio’s Decameron into Armenian. Vauni was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor.