Yervant Odian

Who was Yervant Odian?

Yervant Odian is considered to be one of the most influential Armenian satirists, along with the roughly contemporary Hagop Baronian. Odian's writings, which include novels and short stories, often humorously point out humanity's vices. He had the unique ability to conceive of and write stories at any given instant.

In 1915, during the Armenian Relocation in 1915 Yervant Odian was deported from Istanbul to the Syrian desert. He was able to avoid falling victim by becoming a translator for German officials in Deir ez-Zor since he knew French and Turkish. In 1918, after World War I, he took up the responsibility of collecting orphans left over from deportations in the deserts of Syria and placing them in orphanages. His only real source of income was through his writing. He left Constantinople in 1922 and lived in Bucharest and different parts of the Near East.

Odian spent the last days of his life in Cairo, Egypt where he was buried.