YESAYAN (Hovhannisyan) Zapel was born on February 4 in 1878. An Armenian writer, translator, publicist. She graduated from the Holy Cross collage of Skyutar, Constantinople in 1892 and attended Literature and Philosophy courses at Sorbonne University in Paris and  Collège de France in 1895.  Worked at several periodicals. Her novallas “Sunsets of Skyutar (1905, “Eastern press”), “False Geniuses” (1905, “Eastern press”), “Graceful People” (1907) stand out by their deep psychological analysis and realistic image.

The tragic fate of the Armenians in Cilicia is the subject of her book “Among the Ruins” (1911), the novella The Curse (1911), and the short stories "Safieh" (1911), and "The New Bride" (1911). In 1915, Yesayan moved to Tiflis and published her recollections about the Armenian Genocide in Baku Journal “Work”. In 1918, she organized the relocation of the Armenian refugees and orphans in the Middle East. To this period belong the novellas “The Last Cup” (1916), and “My Soul in Exile” (1919). In the novel “Retreating Forces" (1923) she describes the social and political conditions of her time. Yesayan visited Armenia in 1926 and published her impressions in the book, “Prometheus Unchained” (1928). In 1933 she settled in Armenia and wrote novella “Shirt of Fire” (1934), autobiographical book, “The Gardens of Silihdar” (volume 1, 1935) as well as several articles on literature and art. She also translated several books of M. Maeterlinck. Zapel Yesayan was arrested and died in prison in 1941 and was posthumously justified.

Source - "Who is Who. The Armenians" Encyclopedia, Volume I, chief-editor Hovh. Ayvazyan, Yerevan, 2007.

 
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