Keith Garebian’s most personal book to date, Children of Ararat, is the poignant recollection of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. It is part of Dektet 2010.

Children of Ararat is made up of 56 poems broken into four parts, and is dedicated to Garebian’s father, a survivor of the Armenian genocide. Garebian says, “I figured I owed my father homage because we never had a good relationship for most of his life. We came to a sort of reconciliation towards the end of his life, but I figured I owed him homage. I also wanted to bury the dead because it’s a subject that’s been denied by Turkey systematically for 95 years.” The Armenian genocide was the massacre of over 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks, and is considered to be one of the first modern genocides.

In 2013, Garebian received the prestigious William Saroyan Medal, named in honour of the great Armenian American dramatist and author. Created by the Ministry of Diaspora in Armenia, the award is granted for contributions to the dissemination of Armenian culture in the Diaspora, prominent achievements in the sphere, and contributions to the relations within Diaspora Armenian communities.

Keith Garebian is the author of five previous poetry collections — Frida: Paint Me As a Volcano (Buschek), Blue: The Derek Jarman Poems (Signature), Children of Ararat (Frontenac), and Moon On Wild Grasses (Guernica) — and fourteen books of non-fiction. His writing has earned him numerous awards, including the William Saroyan Medal (Armenia), three Mississauga Arts Awards (Established Literary), Canadian Authors Association (Niagara Branch) Poetry Awards, and numerous grants from the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council.

Keith Garebian's profile page