April 10, 2018 7:30 pm

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Kojaian Family Letters from Efkere/Kayseri to America
April 10, 2018 7:30 pm
Abril Bookstore proudly invites you to meet

JONATHAN VARJABEDIAN
Editor of the newly released book

MY DEAR SON GARABED, I READ YOUR LETTER, I CRIED, I LAUGHED
Kayseri Family Letters from Efkere/Kayseri to America (1912-1919)

TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2018 – 7:30PM

ABRIL BOOKSTORE
415 E. Broadway, Glendale, CA 91205

Admission is Free. For more information, call (818) 243-4112.

MY DEAR SON GARABED, I READ YOUR LETTER, I CRIED, I LAUGHED presents the letters written from loved ones in Efkere/Kayseri between the years 1912 and 1915 to Garabed and his father, Haroutiun Kojaian, who had left their beloved village to immigrate to America. More than 100 years later, these letters have been painstakingly translated, and are presented here for the first time. Written primarily in the provincial Turkish of the Ottoman countryside using the Armenian alphabet, the letters also contain passages written in the now-extinct Armenian dialect of Efkere. They provide a fascinating glimpse into pre-World War I village life in Ottoman Anatolia in this pivotal time for both the Armenian and Turkish peoples.

DR. JONATHAN VARJABEDIAN is the grandson of Garabed Kojaian. Together with the help of Şükrü Ilicak, they compiled, translated, and edited the letters found in this book. Dr. Varjabedian is a board-certified physician and surgeon. He has devoted countless hours documenting the history of his ancestral village of Efkere, in central Anatolia.