Hagop Oshagan wrote Mnatsortats, whose English translation by G.M.Goshgarian has just been released, in Cyprus between 1926 and 1934. These years were Oshagan’s most prolific as a novelist. It was in Cyprus, in a house at the edge of town, that he wrote his magnum opus, Mnatsortats, among the most ambitious works of the modern Western Armenian novel.

During these years, Oshagan taught Armenian literature at the Melkonian School, one of foremost educational institutions in the Disapora. Oshagan is the seventh from the left, seated. This photograph, courtesy of Sebough Voskeritchian of Cyprus.