Deaths on March 23

Hovhannes Tumanyan Armenian poet and author (b. 1869)

Hovhannes Tumanyan (Armenian: Հովհաննես Թումանյան, classical spelling: Յովհաննէս Թումանեան, February 19 [O.S. February 7] 1869 – March 23, 1923) was an Armenian poet, writer, translator, and literary and public activist. He is the national poet of Armenia.Tumanyan wrote poems, quatrains, ballads, novels, fables, and critical and journalistic articles. His work was mostly written in realistic form, that frequently revolves around everyday life of his time. Born in the historical village of Dsegh in the Lori region, at a young age Tumanyan moved to Tiflis, which was the centre of Armenian culture under the Russian Empire during the 19th and early 20th centuries. He soon became known to the wide Armenian society for his simple but very poetic works.

Many films and animated films have been adapted from Tumanyan's works. Two operas, Anush (1912) by Armen Tigranian and Almast (1930) by Alexander Spendiaryan, were written based on his works.