Poems of Armenia
Poems of Armenia by Liana Hayrapetyan and Peter Sutton presents two contrasting views of Armenia’s rich cultural history, which can be traced back more than two and a half thousand years to Ancient Greece and Rome, Persia and Babylon, even to Noah, and it also considers the more recent legacy of genocidal violence and the formidable challenges facing the Armenians in today’s world.
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Copies available from bookshops or direct from the publisher, Black Pear Press
ISBN 978-1-916910-29-4
“Poems of Armenia is not simply a poetry collection but a cultural artefact... As the collection unfolds, we begin to realize that the voices are not only Armenian. They belong to humanity at large. For though the specific references are to Ararat, to Hayk, to cheese-making, to khorovats, the emotions voiced are universally recognisable. In voicing the Armenian story, the voices also voice something about what it means to be human in the face of suffering and displacement. In the end, Poems of Armenia is less about Armenia alone than about the way poetry itself works: how it takes the unsayable and makes it sing. It is a book of voices - mythic, resilient, domestic, ancestral - and each one reminds us that history is never only a record of facts. It is, above all, a chorus waiting for someone to listen. ”
Manish Popat-Szabries
“This book is a truly powerful collaboration. The beauty and tragedy of Armenia unfold, and by the end one shares in the profound sense of attachment and love which the poets feel for this country. To engage with it is a deeply moving experience.”
Fergus McGonigal
“Reading these poems is a complex pleasure. Those which narrate the small sensory act, or the evocation of place, are haunted with histories and oppressions; and those which address those oppressions directly often have a simple clarity, like the ringing of a bell. Highly recommended.“
James Sheard
“This expansive collection, which unfolds the tumultuous and tragic history of Armenia, is a rich read. Hayrapetyan and Sutton explore a deep attachment to and love of Armenian culture, and of lives lived in ‘the double-edged night’. They have created a book which commemorates and recalls, reminding us all that ‘truth is seldom simple, never whole’.“
Jean Atkin
“Peter Sutton is frequently talking about the things that have made Armenia a country. He is excellent for example on particular foods that are quintessentially Armenian, or the ancient monasteries on the mountain sides, but without losing a sense of the poetic. Liana Hayrapetyan speaks with a sense of spiritual loss that is frequently most moving. Certainly an unusual book, in many ways a remarkable one.“
Fred Beake
“Hayrapetyan’s poetry carries her nation’s history of genocide, sexual violence and displacement with restrained emotion and an unexpected lightness of touch. Sutton’s poems are meticulous with detail, and his empathetic and righteous anger at what this nation has suffered is born of a sincerity that comes from a lived experience. This collection is like a conversation between two old friends; it’s not a comfortable read but there are rich and resonant insights to be found here.“
Karen Babayan
“Peter Sutton’s poems are vivid and evocative…whereas Liana Hayrapetyan is expressing her own genius as an Armenian, even in her most personal poems. This fine little book...does not beg for sympathy, despite the great suffering the Armenian people have suffered… It is a proud book and I am honoured to have read it.“
Kevin Bailey
