Book Launch at the Armenian Embassy

22 February, 2008

In the framework of commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the Armenian massacres in the Azeri city of Sumgait, the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia hosted the Canadian launch of Alan Whitehorn’s most recent book Ancestral Voices: Identity, Ethnic Roots and a Genocide Remembered.

Arman Akopian, the Chargé d’Affairs of Armenia in Canada, introduced Dr. Whitehorn, who is a well-know Canadian author, a professor of political science at the Royal Military College of Canada and an adjunct professor at Queen’s University and Simon Fraser University.

Alan Whitehorn explained his reasons for writing Ancestral Voices, a collection of poems that deals with multi-ethnic identity in the Armenian diaspora and describes an often-delayed voyage to his ancestral homeland of Armenia.

He suggested that the collection of personal and political poems reflected an existential journey that had its roots in his grandmother’s experience as an orphan of the 1915 genocide in the Ottoman Empire. He then read the poem “Siroun’s Lament”. In “How Do We Remember the Dead?”, Whitehorn noted the continuing failure of some countries to recognize the historic genocide. In his introduction to his reading of the poem “Delayed Pilgrimage”, Whitehorn noted the inspiration was found in the many delays in his planned odyssey.

The memories of a rocky landscape in the Caucasus Mountains were captured in his poem “Obsidian Obsession”. “A Small Gift” was a poignant and tearful account of an academic’s visit to the Yerevan State University library where he donated a book about the genocide in honour of his grandmother. The reading closed with the poem “Grandfather’s Sweater”, a nostalgic but humorous reflection on identity and memory in a complex and cosmopolitan world.

Professor Whitehorn has indicated that proceeds from the book sales would be donated to the Zoryan Institute of Canada.

Poems by Alan Whitehorn.

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