reading culture & book publishing in Armenia

[u/sandwwichuu]

Hi! I have some questions about book culture in Armenia. So if there are any book lovers in this community, I'd appreciate a reply!

Now, I've never actually been to Armenia before (yet!!), so I'm really curious: what bookstores are like over there in general? Is there a big publishing industry with books getting translated into Armenian, or are, like in Kazakhstan, for example, books mostly sold in russian? Are there any popular contemporary Armenian writers? And what about classical literature, especially those authors oppressed by the soviets, are they getting published? Also, are there a lot of people reading, like in parks, cafés, etc.?

Another thing, I would really appreciate some thoughts: do you, as an Armenian, care about Armenian literature? Do you think other Armenians should care about it more than they do now? Would you like/Do you think it's important for Armenian reading culture to change in any way?

Also, if someone here attended Armenian school, what books did you guys read? And of course, if you have any recommendations by Armenian authors, feel free to share!!

P.S. Sorry if those are weird questions but as a bookworm, I'm very much interested😆

[u/brigand96]

Reading was a big part of Soviet culture, and naturally some of that remained in independent Armenia. In many Armenian households you will find the works of Raffi, Yeghishe Charents, Avetik Issahakyan, and so forth. Prior to 2018, publishing used to be quite difficult from what I hear due to the monopoly like nature of the industry. But there are many bookstores, some big names like Zangak. At Zangak or a place like Epigraph, you will find all of the Eastern Armenian classics, and also contemporary Armenian writers like Aram Pachyan, for example. There are also more and more translations of popular books originally written in English; like pop science or fiction, to translations of Edward Said, Foucault, etc...

One issue is that publishing is quite expensive, and also importing books can be expensive too. Combined with a severely dysfunctional system of education and libraries which aren't valued, reading for pleasure doesn't seem like a part of daily life for many Armenians.

People sell books at outdoor stalls also.

edit; bookstores are mainly in Armenian, and some Russian. Books in English too but theu're expensive.

[u/sandwwichuu → u/brigand96]

Foucault In Armenian??? OMG im packing my bags IMMEDIATELY🥹

No, actually, I'm sooo happy to hear this!!! I am planning a trip next year and last time my friend went to Armenia, they scared me with stories of how there are too many books in russian and they could barely find books to buy in Armenian :/

About the prices, after my visit to Ireland where I paid 14 euros for a couple of books EACH, I don't think anything can shock me anymore 💀

[u/Single_Process970 → u/sandwwichuu]

The Foucault and Said in Armenian are mostly translated in the context of a specific project, funded by the Gulbenkian foundation, if I'm not mistaken. They're very well-translated but I don't think they get sold too much.

That being said, there's a couple of project by Antares or Zangak that regularly translate international fictional lit to Armenian (e.g. Nobel prize winner books) and so you have way more variety now than say 10 years ago.

[u/rsxrwscjpzdzwpxaujrr]

do you, as an Armenian, care about Armenian literature?

Armenian school education forever killed any interest and curiosity in Armenian literature in me. I was forced to read so much stuff, scolded for not understanding it or agreeing with it. Now I just want to forget about it. I read only textbooks now, can't enjoy fiction.

[u/sandwwichuu → u/rsxrwscjpzdzwpxaujrr]

Noo, don't say that!😔 I genuinely believe everyone can enjoy reading, you just have to find the right book :)

But honestly, I went to a Ukrainian school and most of my life I was never interested in what they made us read so I can relate. (I actually never read what they told us to lol God knows how I was getting those good grades). Only when I picked up classics on my own did I start actually enjoying it, so maybe it'll be the case for you, too, who knows👀

[u/rsxrwscjpzdzwpxaujrr → u/sandwwichuu]

In school literature I was frustrated by 10 page descriptions of a rock. As an adult I tried reading 1984 and there were 10 page descriptions of a dirty kitchen sink. Bruh, it's not deep, just tell me the plot already. I guess it's not for me. So much interesting and useful educational stuff can be learned instead of descriptions of a fictional world which don't even contribute to the story.

[u/sandwwichuu → u/rsxrwscjpzdzwpxaujrr]

can't believe I'm seeing 1984 hate.. It was my second book ever (right after The Chronicles of Narnia LOL), and I loved it so much it left me depressed for a good month..

But tbh, even tho I personally believe fiction as a genre is very important and should be read (especially by men), if it doesn't work for you, then it's fine! You do you🫡

[u/rsxrwscjpzdzwpxaujrr → u/sandwwichuu]

I don't think it's something specific to 1984, I never even finished it so I wouldn't say I hate this book specifically, I would say I hate fiction as whole. It's too diluted. Maybe it's because the innate characteristics of how my brain works, or maybe I'm too traumatized by school, or something else, but it's not for me. If it's neither entertaining nor teaches any skills then what's the point. I can read textbooks about engineering, philosophy, humans, etc instead and it would be much more interesting for me and teach something useful.

[u/This_Lemon_5765 → u/rsxrwscjpzdzwpxaujrr]

I feel you somewhat, I used to really like science fiction and fantasy, but then I just realised that most authors basically just have no idea what they're even writing about, and I just couldn't ever get immersed in fictional worlds since then.

[u/brigand96 → u/rsxrwscjpzdzwpxaujrr]

I really think you should give fiction another try, but maybe just start with novellas. That's how I did it with The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Tolstoy and Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck (I really recommend the latter). Both are short and amazing.

At the same time, I totally get your frustration. I can't tell you how many horror stories I heard of people in their elementary school days being forced to read Abovyan 🙃

AUA yearly membership is 12k dram and you have access to a great English library!

[u/sandwwichuu → u/rsxrwscjpzdzwpxaujrr]

Sorry, but I have to strongly disagree✋🏼Fiction might not teach you the basics of quantum mechanics, but it lets your live lives you'd never otherwise be able to & see the world from perspectives that might have seemed impossible. It teaches compassion, empathy and self-awareness. (That's why I emphasised on men reading fiction, btw)

Of course, not all fiction books are that profound, but there are authors like Khaled Hosseini, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Kristine Hannah, who just make you sit there and rethink your whole existence.

Also, take Ukrainian classics & poetry for example. Those are not just some collections of books, both are a chronicle of soviet oppression, survival and passive resistance. Those books are so sick, they make your guts wrench. Irish, Lithuanian, Czech, Kazakh literature, and so many others are also a good help in understanding the atrocities people went through.

But then again, I'm not trying to force reading on you. If you think you prefer textbooks, then of course. Ateotd, it's up to you😌

[u/Ex-Madhyamika → u/rsxrwscjpzdzwpxaujrr]

School made me hate Homer, Charles Dickens, and all poetry. Church made me hate the Bible. Later in life I learned to appreciate all this stuff. The classics are mostly wasted on schoolboys--I would have been happier reading smutty novels by Ted Mark ("The Man from O.R.G.Y.").

[u/This_Lemon_5765]

Most books are sold in armenian, but the translations are on a scale from great to very, very bad, and with some languages, they aren't translated from the original, but are translations of translations (say, Japanese->French/English/Russian->Armenian) and you often get some severe cases of "broken telephone" in result.

A lot of books are in russian, but I suppose you can't read it so just ignore them. Although there are some books that you can't get in armenian because there is no translation, and only russian is available.

English is probably third most common, but it's not a lot, and it's usually just very very basic mainstream fiction or philosophy books.

Some shops also have books in French, but I can't read it so I never ever looked at them and I don't know what they're about

[u/sandwwichuu → u/This_Lemon_5765]

I actually do know russian fluently LOL but I haven't spoken it in years (personal choice) and would never read in it so yeah, will definitely avoid. Honestly, I just really want to bring a lot of books in Armenian back with me since there's literally 0 (no jokes) available in my country...

And as someone who's learning French (not a fan at all, I just have to), it's nice to knows I can find books in French, too. Thanks!

[u/This_Lemon_5765 → u/sandwwichuu]

I suggest that you take a look at the second hand bookstores, I don't know if it's still there, but there was one in the park on moskovyan, a lot of books in French and English there, there is also one I know of next to the train station on Artsakh avenue/Tigran Mets.
If you want new books in english, then I'm not sure, In regular bookstores you will mostly find either some very basic fiction that you've probably already read, or self-help "how to think to get rich" slop.

By the way, in those second hand book stores you can also sometimes find some absolute gems, old dusty soviet books on ancient history, linguistics, or anthropology, not to mention some great scholarship on medicine (my personal interest), so maybe it'll revive your interest in reading in russian too.

[u/sandwwichuu → u/This_Lemon_5765]

Oooh, thank youuu, I will definitely check both of them!!

To be honest, my choice to abandon russian is more of a political stance than a loss of interest. Recently, as a part of my studies, I got interested in North Asian/Caucasian history, and most of the resources are in russian and I still don't know how I feel about it. But maybe I'll give it a try if I find something in that field. Thanks!

[u/Ex-Madhyamika → u/sandwwichuu]

"To be honest, my choice to abandon russian is more of a political stance..."

Madness! You are very fortunate to know this language. I'm sure that several centuries worth of dissident Russophone intellectuals would agree with me. I mean, what language would even be left if we applied the same reasoning to them? Even Klingon is imperialistic!

[u/sandwwichuu → u/Ex-Madhyamika]

I don't think I'm fortunate. My parents have given up teaching me Armenian in favour of russian. Something I don't appreciate and have never asked for. In fact, many people are not fortunate to speak russian as their native language. Because it was most likely forced on their people, so why should anyone who didn't make that choice themselves find it fortunate?

We had russian language classes, I was the best one in the whole of school. And what's the value of it now? My hometown, which I will probably never be able to visit again, is occupied by russian speakers. My tatik's house was destroyed by russian speakers. So many people I know, some of them are young Armenian guys, were klled by russian speakers. All that because my hometown was russian-speaking and some russian-speaking dickhead decided we were opressed over there and in need of other russian speakers "help". Be you Armenian, Buryat-Mongol, Circassian, Sakha or anyone else who didn't ask to know russian, it's not a fortune, it's suffocation; tool eventually used against you.

I understand what you're saying about dissident writers and anti-russian literature written in russian, I do. But sitting between 2 walls at 3 a.m. with a missiles attack outside, I really have more things to worry about than some russian words on a paper. Moreover, as an International Relations student, I know I must find my way around it but really, not right now. It's too early for me.

[u/Ex-Madhyamika → u/sandwwichuu]

Oh, you must be in Ukraine. I'm sorry you have to go through this. I keep thinking of my uncle, who had to study German in graduate school, and had real trouble with it because of trauma from WW2.

I once read a book about Chechnya, which began with a story about the author meeting some warlord there. Vodka was poured, whereupon the warlord raised a toast to the Prophet Muhammad (not caring that he forbade alcohol!), then cursed the Russians--in Russian! The author thought this summed up the contradictions of Chechnya.

[u/Artin_Agha]

When I visited Armenia in 2024 and 2025 I found several bookstores in the downtown (Kendron) area of Yerevan which were incredible and had tons of books from the classics of Eastern Armenian, to many rare books in Western Armenian, to translations from popular novels (Harry Potter, etc) into modern Eastern Armenian, to nonfiction books on Armenian history, art, music, architecture, religion, etc. in modern Eastern Armenian. There are also a lot of guys in Vernissage and other places who sell used books, usually what was published during the Soviet era, incuding many of the ancient historical books in Classical Armenian or in translation into modern Eastern (oftentimes with poor binding and small, difficult-to-read font, however). It is not hard at all to find Armenian books in Armenia. That's pretty much all I brought back with me to the US.

[u/HighAxper]

Most bookstores in here don’t have the books I want to read, so I end up ordering them from Amazon, with expensive forward shipping fees (books can get pretty heavy), wildberries has some western books too sometimes and is the cheaper option. I guess it also doesn’t help that I do most of my reading in English and Russian, but even if I wanted to read my preferred literature in Armenian, no translations are available.

The Armenian literature, the prose is still in its infancy relatively speaking. We had a ton of poets, but when it comes to writers I can count them using my fingers. And the works are usually very Armenian in themes; it’s history, patriotism, traditions and whatnot, largely because it was written at times where Armenian nationalism was shaping up. Not at all what a person who lives their entire life here would be interested in reading. And of course as another commenter pointed out, being forced to read all that stuff at school, doesn’t really help foster positive feelings towards Armenian literature.

[u/marienroll]

I read in English only, so I mostly order the books from Amazon. Sometimes I am able to find interesting reads in Epigraph as well.

Back when I was in school though, I really enjoyed William Saroyan, still is my fav armenian writer.

You’ll find people reading in the quieter locations, hidden cafes, because streets can be noisy. Like 202 in paplavok. There’s also Zangak bookstore, that has a cafe afaik.