Quick Facts
Biography
Mekertitch Harutyunyan (Armenian: Մկրտիչ Գրիգորի Հարությունյան) known by pen name Mkrtich Armen (Armenian: Մկրտիչ Արմեն; December 27, 1906 in Gyumri - December 22, 1972 in Yerevan) was an Armenian writer, poet and translator.
Biography
He was born in Alexandropol (modern-day Gyumri) to a family of artisans, and studied at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography in Moscow.
He wrote novels and short stories that made him famous in his native Armenia and in the wider Soviet Union. His magnum opus is the 1935 novel Heghnar aghbyur (The Fountain of Heghnar), which was later made into a film. He fell out of favour with the authorities, was deported to Siberia, and later released. He published an account of camp life in 1964 and died eight years later in Yerevan.