Narine Abgaryan (, ; born in Berd, Tavush Province, Armenia on January 14, 1971) is an Armenian writer formerly based in Russia. In 2011, Abgaryan was a nominee of Big Book and Laureate of Yasnaya Polyana Literary Award, Russia, in 2016.
She is the author of Manyunya, People Who Are Always With Me, Three Apples Fell from the Sky, Simon, and others. In 2020, The Guardian named her among the brightest authors of Europe.
Biography Abgaryan was born in Berd, Tavush Province, Armenia, to a family of a doctor and a teacher. She is the oldest among five children. Her paternal grandfather was an Armenian refugee from Western Armenia, and her grandmother was a native of Eastern Armenia. Her maternal grandfather was also an Armenian, a native of Karabakh, and grandmother was Russian, a native of the Arkhangelsk region of Russia.
In 1988, Abgaryan graduated from high school in Berd, Armenia. She also attended music school where specialized in the piano. In 1993, she graduated from Yerevan Brusov University of Languages. She majored in Russian language and literature teaching. She later moved to Moscow where she worked as an accountant and a seller.
Since 2022 she has been living in Germany.Narine Abgaryan Literary life Abgaryan became a blogger on LiveJournal. The stories about a little girl called Manuynya fascinated writer Lara Gall, and she introduced the author to the editor of Astrel-SPb Publishing house. The autobiographical novel Manyunya received The Manuscript of the Year Russian national literary award. Later, the author went on writing a trilogy about the girl called Manyunya. In 2012, Simeon Andreich, Manuscript in Scrawls– was published, illustrated by Victoria Kirdiy. In 2014, Chocolate Granddad was published, co-authored with Valentin Postnikov. It is the only book that she calls a children's book. In August 2015, Abgaryan was named one of two laureates of the Alexander Grin Literature AwardThe laureates of the Alexander Grin Literature Award became Narine Abgaryan and Irina Pulya. Press-center of Kirov Oblast Government, Aug 7, 2015 "for her outstanding contribution to the national literature development".
In March 2020, her novel Three Apples Fell from the Sky was translated into English by Lisa C. Hayden and published by Oneworld Publications.
In 2025, her novel To Go On Living was translated into English by Margarit Ordukhanyan and Laza Torlone and published by Plough Publishing.
Manyunya was staged by SamArt Youth Theatre, Russia.Happy «Manyunya» «Samarskaya Gazeta», 13.12.2014Ксения Аитова В «СамАрте» поставили бестселлер Наринэ Абгарян «Манюня». ВолгаНьюс.рф, 18.02.2015Екатерина Шишикина В Омском ТЮЗе состоялась премьера спектакля «Манюня», поставленного петербургским режиссёром Евгенией Никитиной. газета «Ваш ОРЕОЛ» № 5 (890) от 3 февраля 2016 г. In 2021, filming for a TV adaptation of Manyunya began, and in 2023, work began on an animated adaptation of Manyunya by Sarik Andreasyan.
Awards 2011 – the Manuscript of the Year Award for Manyunya 2011 – a nominee for Big Book Award of 2011. 2013 – Baby-Нoc Award. 2015 – Alexander Grin Russian Literary Award for an outstanding contribution to the development of Russian literature expressed in the creation of a particularly significant literary work, or for the works in general. 2016 – Yasnaya Polyana Award in nomination XXI Century for the novel Three Apples Fell from the Sky.
Her collection of short stories "Semyon Andreevich, Chronicle in Scribbles" was named the best children's book of the last decade in Russia.
Bibliography
Her books have been translated into 14 languages.
Novels and novellas 2010 – Manyunya (), 2011 – Manyunya Writes a Fiction Novel (), 2011 – A Transplant Girl (), novel, 2012 – Semyon Andreevich. Chronicle in Scribbles (), 2014 – People Who are Always with Me (), 2015 – Three Apples Fell from the Sky (), Translated into English by Lisa C. Hayden, published by Oneworld Publications, 2015 – Mura's Happiness, (), 2020 – Simon (), 2026 – Sofia Returned Home (),
Short story collections 2012 – Manyunya, Ba's Jubilee and Other Agitations (), 2016 – Zulali (), 2016 – People of Our Yard (), 2018 – To Go On Living (), Translated by Margarit Ordukhanyan and Zara Torlone, published by Plough Publishing House, 2022 - The Silence of Color (),
References
External links