Armaveni by Nadine Takvorian

subtitled: A Graphic Novel Of The Armenian Genocide.

The older I get, the more I wonder why people who commit genocide are so hellbent on pretending it never happened. It adds a layer of weaseldom to an already terrible thing. Like, it’s bad enough you’re a mass murderer but when confronted with the evidence, you’ll pretend it never happened? That feels like a double erasure, of not only a person’s life but also their very existence.

Perhaps that’s the point, which is why it feels especially important in this day and age that the stories of the murdered, displaced and those otherwise affected by state-led actions of eradication continue to be told. The tragedy of the Armenian genocide is probably one of the best hidden of the 20th century. Even as well-read as I’ve been throughout my lifetime, I didn’t know about it until maybe ten years ago? I’m glad that people are speaking out, and that Nadine Takvorian has turned her family history into this compelling Young Adult graphic novel.

Partially set in 2001, the teenaged Nadine of this book comes from an Armenian American family that doesn’t like to talk about the past. California-born Nadine loves drawing and loves stories, tho knows that there are certain ones that her family refuses to share. Her parents run a specialty food store in the city, where she and her brother Sayat help out on Saturdays. A passing question from a customer regarding her identity, and an essay assignment on what it means to be American from her history teacher Mr Ward, soon combine to have her question her own heritage with greater intensity.

Her mother finally relents and begins telling Nadine and Sayat the story of their great-grandmother Armaveni, who’d been a 16 year-old schoolgirl in braids while living in 1915 Marsovan, Turkiye. In order to protect Armaveni, her family married her off to the local miller Hagop Tutjian, who’d been spared from execution by virtue of being an essential worker despite being part of a hated minority. That would be only the first in a strange and often harrowing series of events for young Armaveni, before she would eventually be able to comb out her great-granddaughter’s curly hair in California decades later.

Nadine herself takes the opportunity to go on a heritage trip to Armenia, despite the company of at least one bitchy girl who doesn’t think Nadine is Armenian “enough.” She and Sayat take a detour to stay with Armenian relatives in Istanbul, and get a bigger picture of what life is like for their still oppressed minority even in the 21st century. After getting home, 9/11 happens, giving her more perspective on what it feels like to be a minority even in the Land of the Free. Will Nadine be able to push back against the surprising, and frankly disturbing, number of people who want to erase her identity, and claim her entire heritage for herself?

What was most interesting (and, frankly, relieving) to me as a reader was how carefully Ms Takvorian made it clear that no religion or culture has the monopoly on oppression. Genocides are always about power, and almost always about providing a useful scapegoat for why those in power cannot deliver on their bullshit promises. If you focus the people’s anger and energy on an out-group, after all, it’s easier to dodge any blame as a member of the in-group actually perpetuating harm. We see that happen all over the world, even or perhaps especially today. What’s truly remarkable about the Armenian genocide was how thoroughly it was papered over globally until quite recently.

Books like this one remind us how important it is to tell our stories and to share our histories. Not because we want to spread pain or to blame others, but because we want to able to let go of our grief and ensure that atrocities like this never happen again to anybody. Ms Takvorian contends so elegantly with the many aspects of her people’s past and present that continue to impact Armenians today, in a way that resonates with anyone who’s ever looked at injustice and sought to stop it. Frankly, this is a book that deserves to win awards.

Armaveni by Nadine Takvorian was published March 10 2026 by Levine Querido and is available from all good booksellers, including