NJ ARS Chapters Host Vahan Zanoyan on Book Tour

By MaryAnne Bonjuklian

On Sept. 22, a warm, Sunday afternoon, the four New Jersey chapters of the Armenian Relief Society (ARS), Eastern USA, once again came together to celebrate the book signing of Vahan Zanoyan’s first novel, A Place Far Away. The event, which drew more than 100 guests, took place at Sts. Vartanantz Armenian Apostolic Church in Ridgefield, N.J. Following a warm welcome by Arpi Misserlian, chairlady of the ARS “Spitak” Chapter of New Jersey, Fr. Hovnan Bozoian, pastor of Sts. Vartanantz Church, performed a traditional book blessing (Kinetson), and congratulated the author and encouraged everyone to read the book.

A Place Far Away, Zanoyan’s first novel, tells a tale of a poor family in a rural village of Armenia that is terribly affected by the greed and conspiracy of fellow Armenians to kidnap their beautiful daughter and sister from their home, and the journey the 16-year-old girl endures while being trafficked from Armenia to Moscow, through the Middle East, Istanbul, and back to Armenia. Zanoyan has previously authored two volumes of Armenian poetry, but felt compelled to write about human trafficking in Armenia to awaken readers’ consciousness to the realities of what life in poor villages is like. He divides his time, residing in Southern California, Armenia, and the Middle East.

Houry Geudelekian, the ARS coordinator at the UN, welcomed Zanoyan, a global energy expert, and discussed the ARS’s involvement at the UN, which includes attending workshops and seminars on human trafficking. Ani Tchaglassian then assisted Zanoyan in reading a few compelling excerpts from the text to give the audience a flavor of his style of writing. Written in English and translated into Armenian, the book exposes human trafficking and should be made available for everyone to read, they said, suggesting that purchased books be donated to local libraries. Zanoyan thanked his good friends, Mr. and Mrs. Vatche and Elbiz Baghdikian, who introduced him to the New York-New Jersey communities.

Net proceeds from the event will be donated to the Orran and the United Methodist Committee of Relief, organizations committed to protecting children and fighting human trafficking in Armenia. A portion of the proceeds of the signing event collected by the ARS was also donated to Orran.