Hiag Akmakjian (July 17, 1926 – January 10, 2017) was an American published author, painter and photographer.

Biography

Born in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

as one of three sons of Ervant and Vartanoush Akmakjian, refugees from the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...

. After serving in the U.S. Army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1948, and then moved to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

where he studied at the Sorbonne by means of the

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

while simultaneously attending Académie de la Grande Chaumière, an art school in Montparnasse. Upon his return to America in the early 1950s, Akmakjian attempted to be a painter in the

abstract expressionism Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...

style, but grew tired of the art scene and started studying photography. He also studied

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...

at the Washington Institute in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and then began to practice in New York, while also working as an editor at a New York publishing house. In retirement he moved to the south of France where he resumed painting in a more

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

style. Later on he moved to

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

after marrying his English wife, Margaret.

Career

His interest in psychology and child development led to his writing ''The Natural Way to Raise a Healthy Child'' in 1975, a book that was selected by the Book of the Month Club, the Psychiatry and Social Sciences Book Club and the Psychology Today Book Club. Then an idea to write about

Edward Weston Edward Henry Weston (March 24, 1886 – January 1, 1958) was a 20th-century American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers..." and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." ...

prompted him to move to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, though the book never developed beyond the notes stage. However, having written a book about child rearing, he was given an opportunity to write a weekly Q&A column on infant and child development called "''The Good Enough Parent''" in the

Monterey, California Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bo ...

Herald. He continued furthering his

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

studies, during which time he befriended

Ansel Adams Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association of photographers advoca ...

in the late 1970s to early 1980s. Years later he was interviewed by BBC Radio to talk about recorded tapes he made with Ansel Adams. In 1979 he wrote ''Snow Falling from a Bamboo Leaf: The Art of Haiku''. In the late-1990s he wrote his first novel, ''30,000 Mornings''. It was published in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in 1999 under the title ''Gedanken eines Supermodels nach dem dritten Glas Wodka''.

Death

Akmakjian was married to his wife Margaret and lived in Wales until his death from lung cancer on January 10, 2017. They had a son, Nicolas.

Works

Novels

*''30,000 Mornings'', Viking/Penguin, London, 1999 *"Name Dropping: The Cedar Bar in the 1950s", riverrun Publishing, New York, 2012 *"Cleo", riverrun Publishing, New York, 2016

Non-fiction books

*''The Natural Way to Raise a Healthy Child'', Praeger, New York, 1975 *''Snow Falling from a Bamboo Leaf'', Capra Press, Santa Barbara, 1979 *''Writing to Get Published'', riverrun Publishing, New York, 2011 *''Babyloving'', riverrun Publishing, New York, 2015

Short stories

*''Gite'', published in The Flash (edited by Peter Wild); Social Disease UK, London 2007 *''Sunday'', published in The Empty Page: Fiction inspired by Sonic Youth (edited by Peter Wild); Serpent's Tail, London, 2008 *''A Room on the Left Bank'', published in 3:AM London, New York, Paris (edited by Andrew Stevens); published by Social Disease UK, London 2008

Publications

*''Psychoanalysis and the Future of Literary Criticism'', The Psychoanalytic Review, 1962 *''The Unfabulous Civil War'', published in The Realist, December 1961 *''Hemingway and Haiku'' in The Columbia University Forum, Spring 1966 and reprinted in Japan-America Forum No.1, 1967 *''Treatment Guide for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy'', The Psychoanalytic Press, 1969 *''Awakening Your Child’s Consciousness'', Health and Consciousness, 1977 *''Barns'', published in Monterey Life Magazine, November 1980 *''Photo Mecca: The Carmel Mystique'', published in Monterey Life Magazine, March 1981

Books edited

*''The Years of Bitterness and Pride; FSA photographs 1935–1943''; published by McGraw-Hill, New York, 1975

Books designed

*''Jean Renoir; Essays, Conversations, Reviews'', by Penelope Gilliat, published by McGraw-Hill 1975

Photographs published

*''Portfolio'', published in Monterey Life Magazine, August 1981

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akmakjian, Hiag 1926 births 2017 deaths 20th-century American novelists American male novelists American male short story writers 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers American people of Armenian descent United States Army personnel of World War II Columbia College (New York) alumni University of Paris alumni Writers from Jersey City, New Jersey