Varujan Vosganian


Varujan Vosganian is a Romanian politician, economist, essayist and poet of Armenian origin. Vosganian was Romania's Minister of Economy and Commerce in the Tăriceanu cabinet and Minister of Economy in the Ponta cabinet. He is the President of The Union of Armenians in Romania and the Prime-vice president of the Union of Writers in Romania. His books have been translated into more than 20 languages.

Biography

Varujan Vosganian was born in Craiova to a family of Armenian ethnicity. His grandparents were survivors of the [Armenian genocide|genocide against Armenians|Armenian people] which took place in the Ottoman Empire in 1915. Vosganian studied at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza High School in Focșani. He then studied Commerce at the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies and Mathematics at the University of Bucharest, gaining a Ph.D. in economics in 1998.
After participating in the Romanian Revolution in 1989, he has been a member of the Romanian Parliament since the first free elections in 1990. In 1990, he became president of The Union of Armenians in Romania and he was twice elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies, and a Senator. Between 1996 and 2003, he was the leader of the Union of Right Forces, a right wing liberal party, which eventually merged into the National Liberal Party in 2003. Having served as minister for Economy and Finance between 2006 and 2008, Vosganian was minister of commerce from 2012 to 2013.
Since 2016, he has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies on the lists of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.
Along with non-fiction works on economics, Vosganian has also published many essays and literary texts, such as a volume of poems, short stories and novels. The international recognition came with The Book of Whispers, translated in more than twenty languages. Presented in different events in more than forty countries from all the continents, The Book of Whispers became the book-symbol against the crime of genocide.
Vosganian speaks Armenian, Romanian, English, French, Italian, and Spanish.

Prizes and awards

Literary prizes and awards
  • Prize of the Association of Writers in Bucharest for the best prose of the year – 1994
  • Great Prize for Poetry Nichita Stănescu – 2006
  • Prize for the best book of the year, awarded by the Romania Literară literary magazine
  • Prize for the best prose of the year, awarded by Convorbiri Literare literary magazine
  • Prize for the best prose of the year, awarded by the Romanian Academy, 2009
  • Prize for the best prose of the year and the Prize of readers, awarded by Observatorul Cultural Magazine
  • Prize for the best prose of the year, awarded by Viața Românească Literary Magazine – 2010
  • Prize for the best prose of the year awarded by Argeș literary magazine
  • Nomination for the best prose of the year – Union of Writers in Romania
  • Niram Art Prize for poetry Tristan Tzara and for prose Mihail Sebastian, awarded by Niram Art Foundation, Madrid, 2010
  • Nomination for the best translation of the year, Leipzig Bookfair, 2014
  • The Angelus Award, The Prize of the Readers Natalia Gorbanevskaia and The Prize for the best translation of the year, Wrocław, 2016
Other Awards:
  • Doctor Honoris Causa, awarded by Vasile Goldis University of Arad, 2006
  • Romanian Academy Award for the contribution to the development of Romanian science and culture, 2006
  • Gold Medal for Culture, awarded by the Government of Armenia, 2006, 2013
  • Order "Nerses Shnorhali" awarded by the Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church, 2006
  • "Ordine della Solidarieta Italiana" awarded by President Giorgio Napolitano of Republic of Italy, 2008
  • Order "Cilician Knight" awarded by the Great House of Cilicia Catholicosate, 2008
  • "St. Andrew's Cross", awarded by the Romanian Patriarchate, 2008
  • Medal "Movses Khorenatzi" awarded by President Serge Sarksian of Republic of Armenia, 2011
  • Medal "William Saroyan" awarded by the Government of Armenia, 2012

Publications

Economics

Jurnalul de front: articole economice, Bucharest, Staff, 1994;Contradicțiile tranziției la o economie de piață, Bucharest, Expert, 1994;Reforma piețelor financiare din România, Iași, Polirom, 1999.

Literature

Copiii războiului, novel, Polirom, 2016Cartea poemelor mele nescrise, poems, Cartea Românească, 2015 – around 2500 books soldJocul celor o sută de frunze și alte povestiri, stories, Polirom, 2013 – around 3500 copies soldCartea șoaptelor, novel, Polirom, Iasi, 2009, 2012 – more than 60.000 copies soldIisus cu o mie de brațe, poems, Dacia, 2005Ochiul cel alb al reginei, poems, bilingual Cartea Romaneasca, 2001Statuia Comandorului, stories, Ararat, 1994Șamanul Albastru volume of poems, Ararat, 1994
Translations:A kék sámán, AB – ART, poems, Hungarian translationEl libro de los susurros, Pre – Textos, Spanish translation by Joaquin GarrigosIl libro dei sussurri, Kellerdi Rovereto Trento, Italian translation by Anita Natascia BernacchiaȘșukneri Matian, Writers' Union of Armenia, Antares, Armenian translation by Sergiu SelianSefer Halehishot, Hakibbutz Hameuchad, Hebrew translation by Any ShilonLe livre des chuchotements, Editions des Syrtes, French translation by Laure Hinckel și Marily Le NirViskningarnas bok, 2244, Swedish translation by Inger JohanssonBuch des Flüsterns, Zsolnay Verlag, Büchergilde Gutemberg, German translation by Ernest WichnerProșepnata kniga, Avangard Print, Bulgarian translation by Vanina BojikovaSuttogások könyve, Orpheusz, Hungarian translation by Zsolt KarácsonyLivro dos Sussuros, Digital edition, Portuguese translation by Ernest WichnerPecipeci name, Ketabe Miamak, Persan translation by Garoon SarkiseanKsięga szeptów, Książkowe Klimaty, Polish translation by Joanna Kornaś-WarwasHet Boek der Fluisteringen, Uitgeverij Pegasus, Dutch translation Jan Willem BosKniha šepotů, Havran, Czech translation by Jarmila HorakovaIgra na sto lista i drugi razkazi, SONM, Bulgarian translation by Vanina BojikovaDas Spiel der hundert Blätter, Zsolnay Verlag, German translation by Ernest WichnerHviskingenes bok, Bokvennen, Norwegian translation by Steinar LoneKnjiga šapata, Sandorf, Croatian translation by Ana Brnardic Oproiu and Adrian OproiuThe Book of Whispers, Yale University Press, English translation by Alistair Ian Blyth
To be published in 2017–2018:Laguna Publishing House, Serbian translation of The Book of WhispersV.Books – XXI, Ukrainian Translation of The Book of Whispers
The Book of Whispers
Vosganian said during one of his interviews: "The book was written between 2003 and 2008. I do not know when I got the idea to write it, maybe I always had this thought. The Book of Whispers is, at the same time, autobiography, fiction and historical document. The characters and the events recounted are true. What I have added is the power of symbols. I used both the memory of my family and testimonies of survivors or historical documents. The book presents the biography of the twentieth century; The Armenian Genocide; The Communism in Eastern Europe; How to surpass a common trauma; How to choose between oblivion, revenge and forgiveness."

Other