Author honors Armenian holocaust

[Azat]

The Jewish holocaust had as a witness the girl Anne Frank.

 

The Armenian holocaust had as a witness the boy Vahan Kenderian.

 

"This book personalizes a very terrible event in our history," says Adam Bagdasarian, author of "Forgotten Fire" (DK, $17.95), a fictionalized account of his great-uncle's experiences in the 1915 Armenian genocide in Turkey.

 

Bagdasarian will be in Detroit this week participating in a holocaust commemoration. Metro Detroit has about 60,000 to 80,000 people with Armenian heritage.

 

But Bagdasarian's book is not just a homespun family memoir.

 

"Forgotten Fire" was a finalist for the 2000 National Book Award in young adult literature and has been nominated for other prizes. Bagdasarian, 46, worked on the novel for 10 years, intrigued by his great-uncle's gritty tale of survival amid the massacre of his family and 1.5 million of his countrymen. Written through the eyes of the 12-year-old Vahan, it sees tragic adult events through the prism of a boy who simply wants things the way they were before the soldiers came.

 

Reviewers have described the book as graceful, gripping and intense. Yet, it is more graphic than most young adult books, describing in unsparing words the deaths of Vahan's grandmother, brother, friends and sister.

 

"I do not believe it was sensationalized," says the author, who says the book is suitable for ages 13 and up. "In this society where there is so much gratuitous violence, to see the real thing and to be reminded what violence really is, is a good thing."

 

Bagdasarian's visit to Detroit leads up to the official Genocide Commemoration at 1 p.m. on April 22 at St. John's Armenian Church.

 

For information on all events, call 248-642-1879 or 248-569-2988.

 

Contact ELLEN CREAGER at 313-222-6498 or at creager@freepress.com

 

 

http://www.freep.com/features/books/fire2_20010402.htm