Armaveni, by Nadine Takvorian
A couple of weeks ago I was in Istanbul. This ancient city is full of the layers of history. Greek, Roman and Turkish. It is home to many nationalities and amongst them can still be found Armenians. Hidden behind high walls you can still find Armenian churches, Armenian craftsmen still work around the Grand Bazaar. If you go to the right bar at the right time, you might even hear some Armenian music among the Turkish, Kurdish and other songs.
Nadine Takvorian’s Armaveni explores Armenian history and the consequences of the genocide against Armenians in Turkey in 1915-16 when more than a million Armenians were murdered and millions more forced into exile. She looks at the experience of the Armenian diaspora through the eyes of a young U.S. high school student Nadine – broadly based on the author.
Nadine’s family work hard to preserve their language, culture and religion – Armenia is a Christian country with its own church. She encounters racism from other students at her high school but also from other Armenian diaspora children, who see her as too Turkish, her family are Western Armenians who remained in Turkey after the genocide before emigrating to the United States. In school she comes up against the narrative of genocide denial put forward by the Turkish state through the character of a teacher.
We follow Nadine as she tries to uncover more of her disturbing family history – which her traumatized family are reluctant to discuss. Finally a trip to Armenia, and to Turkey itself to investigate her roots begins to reveal the story.
The story is framed by a folk tale of a beautiful mythical bird and the authors pencils bring to life the soft curves of nature. As Nadine uncovers more of her family history she climbs to the roof of her home in shock, as the moon and stars wheel in the sky and the great bird flies overhead. We also see the image of a snake – Nadine’s hair becomes like the hair of Medusa the Gorgon as she is teased by class mates for her hair. A monster – and in Istanbul she sees the head of the Gorgon as a symbol of evil.
The horror of the genocide is depicted effectively and memorably. White flames in the night in dark panels with the use of large splash panels which show the impact and significance of events. The heat, the burning and the terror.
Tales of genocide, racism and nationalism are unfortunately all too topical today. As the author notes the suffering of Armenians is not over as the ethnic cleansing carried out by Turkeys close ally Azerbaijan in Artsakh shows. In the wake of 9/11 Nadine’s family in the face of attacks hang up a U.S. flag in their shop window, just as they used to hang a Turkish flag to ward off attacks.
Life and history are constantly unfolding. Autobiographical comics that explore the personal, the historical, and the contemporary offer a unique power that other mediums often can’t match. These works blend journalism, testimony, and personal emotion, capturing complex realities in a way that resonates deeply. For instance, Victoria Lomasko’s travel journalism and reflections on her personal history as a Russian exile, such as in The Last Soviet Artist, provide an intimate yet insightful portrayal of her experiences. Similarly, Joe Sacco’s influential graphic novels have brought global attention to conflicts and human rights issues in Palestine, the United States and the Balkans. In Artsakh, young people embarked on a project to document their personal experiences through comics, a project tragically interrupted by ethnic cleansing.
Armaveni is a beautifully illustrated and accessible book dealing with a topic that is often either unknown or misunderstood. It is an important contribution to autobiographical graphic novels and readers will find it an engaging personal story with a lot of contemporary relevance.
Published by Levine Querido https://www.levinequerido.com/
On sale March 2026
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