Yervant Odian

Yervant Odian (Armenian Երվանդ Օտյան or Երուանդ Օտեան; born September 19, 1869 in Constantine Opel, Opel vilayet Constantinople, Ottoman Empire, † 1926 in Cairo ) is regarded as the most influential Armenian satirists.

Odians writings, which include novels and short stories, often raise human vices produced humorous. During the genocide of the Armenians from 1915 Yervant Odian was deported from Constantinople Opel in the Syrian desert. He could save himself by becoming a translator for German officers in Der Zor, as it the French and Turkish language has perfectly mastered. In 1918 Odian took over after the First World War, the responsibility for collecting the orphans who survived the deportations in the deserts of Syria, in orphanages. His income he earned through his writing. He left Constantinople Opel in 1922 and lived from then on in Bucharest and in various regions of the Middle East.

Odian spent his last days in Cairo, where he was buried after his death in 1926.

Works (selection)

• Accursed Years. My Exile and Return from Der Zor, 1914-1919, Garod Books, London, 2009.
• Comrade Clueless ( Ընկեր Փանջունի ), Konstantin Opel, from 1914 (several books).
• Twelve Years Out of Istanbul. 1896-1908 ( Տասներկու Տարի Պոլսէն Դուրս. 1896-1908 ), Konstantin Opel 1922.