Ardashes Hovsepian ( hy, Արտաշէս Յովսէփեան; 1877–1962) better known by his penname Malkhas was an Armenian writer and revolutionary, best known for his four-volume novel ''Awakening'' (''Zartonk'').

Biography

Malkhas was born in 1877, in Trabzon in the Ottoman Empire. A member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) from his youth, he immigrated to the United States where he wrote for the ARF newspaper '' Hairenik'' in Boston. In 1900 he returned to the Ottoman Empire as an ARF activist, and took part in the

1904 Sasun uprising The Sasun uprising or Sasun rebellion of 1904 ( hy, Սասունի երկրորդ ապստամբութիւնը, ''Sasuni yerkrord apstambut'yunĕ'', literally Second Sassoun resistance) was an uprising by Armenian militia against the Ottoman Emp ...

. In 1908, he returned to his native Trabzon, where he founded the ARF publication ''Khariskh'' (Anchor). Moving to Russian South Caucasus, he took part in the 1918 independence movement and was elected to the parliament of the

First Republic of Armenia The First Republic of Armenia, officially known at the time of its existence as the Republic of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի Հանրապետութիւն), was the first modern Armenian state since the loss of Armenian statehood in the Middle ...

. After the failed ARF uprising against recently established Soviet rule in Armenia, he found refuge in Persia before moving again to the United States, where he contributed regularly to ''Hairenik Monthly''. In 1933, he published the four-part historical novel ''Awakening'', which tells the story of the Armenian revolutionary movements in the late 19th and early 20th century. He also published his autobiography titled ''Life Experiences'' (''Aprumner''). He died of a heart attack at the age of 85 while visiting Beirut for a series of cultural events.

References

{{authority control Armenian novelists People from Trabzon 1877 births 1962 deaths Expatriates from the Ottoman Empire in the United States