Paruyr Sevak (born Paruyr Ghazaryan) was a prominent Armenian poet, cultural figure, literary critic, and translator.
Sevak was born on January 24, 1924, in the village of Chanakhchi (now Zangakatun), Ararat Province, Armenian SSR. He graduated from the Faculty of Philology of Yerevan University (1945) and the Maxim Gorky Institute of Literature in Moscow (1955). He has lectured at the latter university in 1955–1959.
Before graduating from the Maxim Gorky Institute, Paruyr Sevak had worked in the publishing houses “Vanguard” and “Literary Newspaper” in Yerevan. He had also worked in the Armenian Society of Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (1946-1951).
From 1963 to 1971, Sevak was a senior researcher at the Abeghyan Institute of Literature under the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR. In 1966-1971, he was the Secretary of the Board of the Union of Writers of Armenia.
Sevak’s poems have been published since 1942. Paruyr Ghazaryan was inspired by Western Armenian poet Ruben Sevak and thus adopted the pen name Paruyr Sevak.
Paruyr Sevak’s heritage largely consists of his literary, philological, and literary studies and articles about Grigor Narekatsi, Mesrop Mashtots, Komitas, Nahapet Kuchak, Petros Duryan, Hovhannes Tumanyan, Yeghishe Charents, modern poets, problems of Armenian history, as well as linguistic changes.
Paruyr Sevak died in a car accident on June 17, 1971.
