A debut graphic novel about the Armenian genocide — 27 years in the making and already carrying three starred reviews — comes to Vroman’s Bookstore on Saturday, April 11, less than two weeks before Pasadena formally observes its annual Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide on April 24.
Bay Area author and illustrator Nadine Takvorian will appear at 3 p.m. in conversation with Julie Fiveash, a Los Angeles-based graphic novelist and former Harvard librarian, to discuss and sign Armaveni: A Graphic Novel of the Armenian Genocide. The event is free. The book, published March 10 by Levine Querido, traces Takvorian’s own journey to understand a family history her parents were too wounded to discuss.
“It’s taken me over half a lifetime to make that dream a reality,” Takvorian told KQED in a March interview, referring to a 1999 essay she wrote in an Armenian magazine expressing her hope to one day write such a book.
Takvorian is a first-generation Armenian-American whose family is Bolsahye — Armenians from Istanbul, Turkey — part of the diaspora scattered by the genocide that began April 24, 1915, and killed an estimated 1.5 million people under the Ottoman Empire. Her family eventually settled in San Francisco, where they ran Haig’s Delicacies, a specialty food shop in the Inner Richmond neighborhood founded in 1956, according to the KQED interview.
Armaveni is named after Takvorian’s grandmother. Set in 2001, the graphic memoir weaves three narrative strands: Takvorian’s experience as a teenager pressing her parents for answers, her grandmother Armaveni’s story of surviving the genocide as a young girl, and fantastical sequences that connect the two timelines, according to the book’s publisher. A typeface based on Takvorian’s own handwriting runs throughout. The pages are rendered in a distinctive lavender wash that Takvorian said was dictated by the material itself.
“The subject matter required more restraint,” she told KQED.
Kirkus Reviews, in a starred review posted in January, called the work a graphic memoir that proves the medium’s capacity to serve as testimony. School Library Journal’s starred review recommended it for all collections. Foreword Magazine’s starred review called it an exemplary graphic memoir, according to those publications’ reviews.
The Vroman’s appearance falls 13 days before April 24, the date Pasadena has formally observed as a Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide for more than 30 years, according to published reports. Mayor Victor Gordo has issued annual proclamations designating the date. An Armenian Genocide Memorial Monument, unveiled at Memorial Park in 2015 on the centennial of the genocide, stands as a permanent marker of the city’s recognition. Designed by Catherine Menard, the monument features a stone basin with water dripping every 21 seconds — each drop representing 10,000 lives lost, according to Pasadena Now. The Pasadena Armenian Coalition holds its annual commemoration at the site.
Takvorian told KQED that genocide recognition remains a pressing concern for the Armenian community, noting the issue is used by politicians as a bargaining chip. In 2021, President Biden became the first American president to officially recognize the Armenian genocide, according to KQED.
“This is important for all of us to learn about, because it’s our collective humanity,” Takvorian told KQED. “It’s an Armenian story, but it’s also our story.”
In conversation with Takvorian at Vroman’s will be Fiveash, a nonbinary Diné cartoonist whose own debut graphic novel, The Froggy Library, is due from Levine Querido on April 14 — the same publisher that released Armaveni. Both are debut graphic novels exploring community histories through the graphic memoir form, according to Pasadena Now.
Founded in 1894, Vroman’s is Southern California’s oldest and largest independent bookstore. The event takes place Saturday, April 11, at 3 p.m. at 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. Admission is free. For information, call (626) 449-5320 or visit vromansbookstore.com.
Pasadena’s own Day of Remembrance falls 13 days later. The monument at Memorial Park will be there when it does.
NADINE TAKVORIAN DISCUSSES & SIGNS ARMAVENI: A GRAPHIC NOVEL OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE Date & Time: Saturday, April 11, 2026, 3:00 p.m. | Venue Address: Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena | Phone Number: (626) 449-5320 | Website: https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-04-11/nadine-takvorian
