REPRESENTING DARK MATTER| NOTES ON WAR BY ANAHIT GHAZAYAN AND GOHAR KHACHATRYAN

ARI Literary Agency hasn’t been working with literary non-fiction books, but this is going to change. We have already signed a couple of deals and are going to present them to you.

Please welcome Anahit Ghazaryan and Gohar Khachatryan and with a collaborative book Dark Matter | Notes on War, a collection of letters and diary notes written during and after the 44-day war in Nagorni Karabakh (Artsakh) in 2020. Please see the biographies of the authors as well as the synopsis of the book below. 

Anahit Ghazaryan is a writer, visual artist, and researcher from Yerevan, Armenia. In the last several years, Anahit has worked with text, audio, and visual materials including photography, and most recently with documentary theater play and film. Anahit is a co-producer of the “Akanjogh” podcast, the first podcast on feminism in Armenia. Additionally, Anahit has co-authored two books.

The first book, Border-play | The Armenian and the Armenian, is a discussion about the relationship between two language backgrounds: Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian. Her second book Dark Matter: Notes on War came out in November 2022. Anahit has been researching the life and work of Maryam Shahinyan (1911-1996), the first woman professional studio photographer in the Republic of Turkey, for more than six years. In 2021, she curated an exhibition of Shahinyan’s original photos that she found and collected during her time in Istanbul at the 4Plus Documentary Photography Center in Yerevan. In 2022, she completed the production of “Foto Galatasaray”, a full-length documentary on Shahinyan’s life and work. The film is currently in post-production.

Gohar Khachatryan is an activist based in Yerevan. She co-hosts two podcasts, “Akanjogh”, which focuses on feminism, and “Country of Dust.” Gohar’s professional background is quite diverse. She holds degrees in Economics and Political Science, and she has furthered her education in Contemporary Arts. Throughout her career, she has worked in various fields, primarily within non-profit organizations. Her personal commitment to activism has led her to discover that her true sense of fulfillment lies in contributing to a greater cause. Gohar also conducts self-defense classes for girls and women, empowering them to protect themselves. Her debut book, “Dark Matter: Notes on War,” was authored by Anahit Ghazaryan.

Dark Mattaer | Notes on War

The book is compiled of letters combined with diary notes by two young women, Anahit and Gohar. These texts were written during and after the 44 day war in Nagorno Karabagh (Artsakh) in 2020 and onward. One of them was in the UK when the war started and was following the news from afar, dealing with the virtual presentation of war, meanwhile the other one was doing field work in Stepanakert, the capital of Artsakh, coordinating the work of international journalists covering the war. It seems like one of the writers is testifying, while the other one is reflecting. These are painful and honest conversations, their thoughts and feelings, bringing the normalities of everyday routine into literary territory, presenting an unfiltered  viewpoint of the destructive influence of war.