Biography
He was born Hovhannes (Onik) Tadevosi Karapetyan in the city of Alexandropol, then part of the Russian Empire (now Gyumri, Armenia). His mother, Astghik, was widowed by the Armenian Genocide shortly before his birth. Shiraz grew up in a considerable poverty. His first work called Beginning of Spring was published in 1935. Novelist Atrpet gave the talented poet the epithet "Shiraz", because "this youth's poems have the fragrance of roses, fresh and covered with dew, like the roses of Shiraz" (Shiraz being one of Iran's major cities, famous for its roses and poets). Another version of his pen name is "Shirak azn"—a child of Shirak, the region he was from.
Hovhannes Shiraz studied in Yerevan State University and Moscow Maxim Gorky Literature Institute. In 1958 Shiraz published the first volume of his Knar Hayastani (Lyre of Armenia). The second and third volumes were published in 1965 and 1974. These collections include the best examples of Shiraz's poetry.
Most of Shiraz's publications were poetry. He is an author of very popular patriotic and love poems included "Ani", "My mother", "May my love remain a secret", "Siamanto and Khjezare", "Expromt", "Like the pagan love", "My holy Homeland", "The fate of Armenians", "To Andranik", etc. He wrote "The Armenian Dante-esque" about the Armenian genocide, a subject that was banned in Soviet Union. The first version of this masterpiece was written in 1941. Only short passages from this work were published during his life in Soviet Armenia, and some chapters were published in Beirut and Tehran. The entire poem (over 8000 lines) was published in 1990 in Yerevan.
He was buried at Komitas Pantheon, Yerevan, Armenia, along with other distinguished Armenians.
He married famous Armenian poetess Silva Kaputikyan. His son with Kaputikyan, Ara Shiraz, is a sculptor. Shiraz had seven children with his second wife, Hasmik. Their son Sipan Shiraz was a poet.
Yerevan school #169 and a street in Julfa of Isfahan are named after him. Hovhannes Shiraz’s House-Museum is opened in a 19th Century building in Gyumri.
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