In the evening of September 29, 2013 in the crowded Calouste Gulbenkian Hall of the “Hayartun” Center at the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Holy Church in Tbilisi, at the initiative of the “Hayartun” Center and “Kamurj” Public, Literary and Cultural Organization, a literary soiree consecrated to the memory of Levon Ananian took place.

Tbilisi lovers of art and literature knew Levon Ananian quite well, often met him at various events (including the events held at the "Hayartun" Center) listened to his captivating speech, and fell in love with him... Therefore the Armenians of Georgia were also deeply wounded by the untimely death of the famous public figure, and the crowded hall was an ample evidence of this love and the pain of loss. And the event, in its essence, became a new and unique meeting of the writer with the reader, who has already become a wanderer of eternity, and lives his second – immortal life, and in order to face the challenges of the time, guides us - the people of the earth, with the help of rich in intonation constant manuscript, to the preservation of national identity, protection of the language, towards love and communication with other nations.

The Head of the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Georgia, His Grace Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanian blessed the audience and opened the event with Our Father Prayer. After that the poet and Chairman of "Kamurj" Public Organization Anahit Bostanjian presented Ananian’s biography, described him as an energetic devoted Chairman of the Writers' Union of Armenia, a great literary, social, and national figure, writer and publicist, translator and publisher, exceptionally bright intellectual, a real man who connected literatures and the human hearts, was in friendly relations with the Georgian and other nations; she especially emphasized Ananian’s undeniable role in the creation of a united All-Armenian field (with its three components: Armenia, Diaspora, Artsakh), he brought together the Armenian writers of Diaspora around the world, appreciated the Armenian writers, supported Armenian literature and tried to present it to the world. In her speech she cited a piece about Ararat out of “A Letter to a Turkish friend” by Ananian. Then she presented the books by Ananian, including the Georgian storybook entitled “Wild Poppy” (translated by M. Gonashvili, G. Shakhnazari, M.Geurkov, A. Bostanjian).

Warm and heartful speech of Levon Ananian’s and our nation close friend, his fellow-professional, President of the Writers’ Union of Georgia Makvala Gonashvili was full of love and deep heartache. “I have lost my brother, it seems like we have grown up together, and we were nurtured on one mother’s milk like Hayos and Kartlos. And yet, I am proud to know him, together we carried out a number of projects, published translation of anthologies, organized reciprocal visits of writers for the benefit of the Armenian and Georgian literature ... His memory will live forever in my heart and in the hearts of our writers and our nation: he was a winner of many Georgian prizes – named after I. Machabeli, A. Tsereteli, D. Guramishvili… We paid homage to the worthy man…”- M. Gonashvili said and read aloud her translation of “Dinner in Absentia” by Levon Ananian, dedicated to Revaz Mishveladze.

The Armenian authors Valery Unaniants, Artem Kirakozov, Marina Kirakosian-Mosesova, Michael Ananov, writing in Russian, and Gari Kalamkarov (who writes in Georgian) read their works and pieces from Ananian’s works, dedicating it to Levon Ananian. They also expressed their gratitude to Ananian for his support to the foreign-language writers, organization of the conferences and his warm human attitude...

Levon Chidilian bowed to Ananian’s memory and read one of his noteworthy, raising the alarm articles on a topic of emigration entitled “The House that Was not Built by Master Ohan”, and another apprehensive work of the same author “A Lesson of the Native Language”…

Senior students of Tbilisi Armenian School # 104 Liza Torosian, Lika Markarian, Erik Simonian recited poems in Armenian, Russian and English from the poems collection entitled “Souvenirs” by Ananian.

It was Levon Ananian, who wrote so warm introduction to the published last year in Tbilisi collection "Beating of Eight Hearts", and inspired young writers ... That is why the speech of young Armenian writers of Georgia: Monika Kurkchian, Armen Hovhannisian, Diana Ter Bagdasarova and Liza Torosian - was touching and full of gratitude…

Famous Armenian translator Givi Shakhnazari, who was greatly appreciated by Ananian, described Levon Ananian as a skillful and energetic Сhairman of the Writers' Union of Armenia, great friend of the Georgian people, great publicist, and a person, full of love and kindness; he also read his own translation of one of Ananian’s works.

Advisor to the President of Georgia, the editor of "Vrastan" ("Georgia") Van Baiburtian, shared with the audience his interesting memories about Ananian, he described Ananian as a bright intellectual of our time, a real publicist, who was one of the modern pillars of Armenian-Georgian friendship, and he also highlighted the depth of his insightful thoughts.

At the end of the literary soiree Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanian, expressed his assessment, sorrow and pride, and emphasized the lessons he had learned from Ananian’s sobering speech. He especially stressed alarm raising Levon Ananian’s voice, which was so often heard from tribunes, at concerts and meetings, directed against a number of contemporary challenges, which like the sword of Damocles were hanging over the nation... “He was a true son of his nation, who cared about the fate of the nation, always interested in the preservation of national identity, always opposed emigration, was against the fact that Armenians would leave Armenia, was in favour of improvement and preservation of Armenia by the Armenians, ”- the Bishop said. His Grace especially highlighted the article “The House that Was not Built by Master Ohan” that had sounded during the event; he also expressed his opinion about Ananian, describing him as a great man, mentioned his great role in relations with Georgia, in the restitution of Tumanian’s House in Tbilisi in particular.

The representatives of culture, education, public, politics and other fields attended the evening consecrated to the loving memory of Levon Ananian, who lived by a code – to be useful to others both in human, literary and business relations.

Anahit Bostanjian