View source for Hrachya Kochar

{{Short description|Armenian writer (1910–1965)}}
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{{infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name             = Hrachya Kochar
| image            = Hrachya Qochar.JPG
| imagesize        = 250px
| alt              =
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| birth_name       = Hrachya Gabrielyan
| birth_date       = {{birth date|df=yes|1910|01|19}}
| birth_place      = [[Kumlubucak]], [[Erzurum vilayet]], [[Ottoman Empire]]
| death_date       = {{death date|df=yes|1965|05|02}}
| death_place      = [[Yerevan]], [[Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic|Armenian SSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
| occupation       = Writer, publicist
| nationality      = [[Armenians|Armenian]]
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| alma_mater       = [[Yerevan State University]]
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| awards           = "Red Star" Award, National Prize of [[Armenian SSR]]
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'''Hrachya Kochar''' ({{Langx|hy|Հրաչյա Քոչար}}; 19 January 1910 – 2 May 1965), born '''Hrachya Kochari Gabrielyan''', was an Armenian writer and publicist. He won the first state prize of the Armenian SSR for his novella ''Nahapet'', which was adapted into a [[Nahapet|film of the same name]] in 1977.
== Biography ==
Hrachya Gabrielyan was born in 1910 in the [[Ottoman Empire]], in the village of [[Kumlubucak]] (now located in the [[Taşlıçay]] district of the [[Ağrı Province]] of Turkey), historically located in the province of [[Bagrevand]] in [[Western Armenia]]. He lost both of his parents the [[Armenian genocide]]: his mother died during their flight to Eastern Armenia, while his father, Kochar, also known as Kocho, who fought in [[Andranik|Andranik's]] army, died in 1918. Hrachya Kochar chose his pseudonym in honor of his father. Along with other people from his village, Hrachya managed to escape the massacres and reach [[Eastern Armenia]]. He worked as a shepherd and as a pitman in the mines of [[Alaverdi, Armenia|Alaverdi]]. He then moved to [[Yerevan]] and was accepted to the faculty of philology of [[Yerevan State University]].
He published his first story, titled "Khaje", in 1931 in the monthly ''Nor Ughi''. In 1934, he edited the [[Kurdish people|Kurdish]]-language newspaper ''[[Ria Taza (newspaper)|Ria Taza]]''. He became a member of the [[Union of Soviet Writers]] in 1934 and of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]] in 1939. In 1939, he was penalized by the party and left unemployed, until [[Martiros Saryan]] found him work in the Committee for the Preservation of Historical Monuments. Kochar traveled around Armenian to investigate the state of Armenian [[monastery|monasteries]] and chapels, summarizing his findings in the "Album-Guidebook of the Goris and Sisian regions".
From 1941 to 1945, Kochar served in the [[Red Army]] and participated in [[World War II]]. Kochar's writings from the front were published in a series of collections, starting with ''Herosneri tsnunde'' ("The Birth of Heroes") in 1942. One of his short stories written during the war, "The General's Sister", was published in ''[[Pravda]]'' in 1945 and later translated into 24 languages. In the last years, he has printed the "White Book", where "The Nahapet", "The Yearning" and "Euphrate's Bridge" are the best novels of the writer.
From 1946 to 1951, he was the secretary of the [[Writers Union of Armenia]] and the editor of the monthly ''Sovetakan Grakanutyun'' ("Soviet Literature"). In 1954 he edited the satirical magazine ''Vozni''. Kochar wrote the script for the film ''Hyusisayin Tsiatsan'' ("Northern Rainbow", Hayfilm, 1961). His works have been translated into Russian and other languages. He died in [[Yerevan]] in 1965.
== Prizes ==
*[[Order of the Red Star]]
* State Prize of [[Armenian SSR]] for "The Nahabed" novel
== Sources ==
* {{Cite encyclopedia |year=1986 |title=Kʻochʻar Hrachʻya |encyclopedia=Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia |location=Yerevan |url=https://hy.wikisource.org/wiki/%D4%B7%D5%BB:%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B5%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%8D%D5%B8%D5%BE%D5%A5%D5%BF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B6%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%A3%D5%AB%D5%BF%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%B6_(Soviet_Armenian_Encyclopedia)_12.djvu/476 |last=Gasparyan |first=D. |volume=12 |pages=476 |language=hy}}
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[[Category:Armenian male writers]]
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:1965 deaths]]
[[Category:Soviet male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Armenian writers]]
[[Category:Yerevan State University alumni]]