Author Kay Mouradian presents story behind writing Armenian Genocide book to US students

Kay Mouradian, author of My Mother’s Voice, a book and an eponymous film on the Armenian Genocide, has presented the story behind creating the work to American student and academic circles.

Kay Mouradian mother survived the Armenian Genocide when she was 14. Mouradian always listened her mother speak about the story of her survival, however she seemingly didn’t perceive the details of the horrors until she began writing the book.

Daily Bruin touched upon the book and film of Mouradian in an article, mentioning that the work is focused on the life story of the author’s mother during the Armenian Genocide.

Mouradian said the idea for the book first came from her mother, who was suffering from severe dementia. As her condition got worse, she told Mouradian to write a book about her life and the Armenian genocide. However, Mouradian was teaching throughout Los Angeles and had plans to go to Beijing to teach overseas at the time.

But her plans changed – Mouradian never went to Beijing and ended up writing the novel instead. Mouradian said she wanted to help the Armenian genocide retain its place in history, and as a former teacher, she wanted to give other educators a more accessible way of understanding the genocide.

“I thought to myself, ‘How do I make it easy for teachers to get a grasp of what happened in 1915 to make their job easier and to get their interest involved?’” Mouradian said.

During three trips to Turkey and two to Syria, she searched for her mother’s rescuers, whose descendants remembered her mother decades after the end of the genocide.

Mouradian is also in the process of making a documentary film on the novel, which will make it easier for students to understand the Armenian Genocide.