Early Life / Education
Martiros Vardanian, son of Minas and Dushxohi Vardanian was born in Allepo, Syria in 1934. He had four brothers and two sisters.
After completing all four levels of an intricate kindergarten educational program, he spent another four years in elementary graduating with high honors. In 1946 he and his family repatriated back to Armenia. In Armenia he went to craftsman school to learn how to make tools. Upon graduation, in 1951 he worked as a tool maker through 1957 while attending night school to complete his high school diploma. He graduated with a gold medal for getting outstanding grades in all his classes.
From 1957 to 1962 he attended Yerevan’s Polytechnical Institute majoring in mechanical engineering. After graduation he worked as a professor there until 1978.
Professional Life
In 1978 he emigrated to the United States of America with his wife and two children. From 1982 to 2002 he worked as a Senior Tool Engineer at a Japanese engineering company which produced high grade ball bearings for various industrial applications.
During his free time, starting in the 1980’s, he began to write memoirs and historical stories generally focused on anti-Soviet sentiment.
When he emigrated to the United States, he and other recent Armenian arrivals were painted as “traitors” for “abandoning the motherland.” As a defendant of those who also escaped the iron curtain, he began to write in local newspapers, explaining how himself and others did not escape “the motherland” but the Soviet occupation of the motherland.
Martiros has since been enlightening the general public about the difficulties of growing up in the former Soviet Union, and the ruthless totalitarian regime in which the former KGB operated with impunity.
Since the nineties, he progressed from small articles to authoring full novels and books on topics ranging from the Armenian Genocide, Anti-Soviet events, and living under Soviet rule.
He wrote six books from 1990 to 2008. Each focusing on different subjects such as; The war in Karabakh, Armenia, Life in America as an Armenian, the Armenian criminal underworld in Armenia, and finally as a fictional character who experiences a compilation of all the above.
After his works gained popularity, some authors penned response pieces to his work. He printed those as well. During their release, his books were both the highest selling and best selling novels in his distributor’s catalog.
Currently, he is working on a historical biography about his father Evik Minas Vardanian as the protagonist, who was a war hero during the Armenian Genocide.
Personal Life
He married his wife of 53 years, Marijean Vardanian. They have two sons and 5 grandchildren. He currently lives in California as an esteemed and established pillar of community. He is a member of numerous networks and associations such as the Armenian Authors from the United States.
