Trafika Europe 4 - Armenian Rhapsody

Editor's welcome

Welcome to

Trafika Europe 4 – Armenian Rhapsody

Mountainous Armenia, historically the first Christian

nation, struggles today between east and west, amid some

pitfalls of modern freedoms. Nearly one third of its present-

day population of three million spends years at a stretch

abroad in Russia, while another eight million Armenians

are spread out in a diaspora spanning some 18 other

countries, notably France, Iran and the United States.

In this light, we can’t speak of any definitive Armenian

literary culture. We’re offering only a smattering here, just

a glimpse, of some writers in today’s Armenia. Some are

looking backwards for inspiration, some forwards now (two

here with pregnancy); some, perhaps, are flatlining within –

there is also sweetness there.

Fiction writer Armen of Armenia offers an update on a

popular Armenian folk story with his “The Return of Kikos”;

for the benefit of English-language readers, we’re prefacing

it with the original tale of Kikos here. Poet Anahit

Hayrapetyan gives us intimate snapshots of her pregnancy –

including literally. We’ve also got moving fiction by Nara

Vardanyan and Sargis Hovsepyan, and new poetry by

Marine Petrossian. Special thanks to the latter also for

helping us assemble this issue; Marine was a featured poet