09 05 2009- LORNE SHIRINIAN TO SPEAK ON “THE GEORGETOWN BOYS” AT NAASR

Acclaimed Canadian-Armenian author, Lorne Shirinian, will give a lecture on “The Georgetown Boys,” on Thursday, May 28, 2009, at 8:00 p.m., at the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) Center, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA. The lecture will be co-sponsored by the Zoryan Institute and NAASR.
Out of the carnage of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, 109 Armenian orphan boys were rescued and given a chance for a new life. Selected from orphanages in Turkey and Greece by Near East Relief and the Lord Mayor’s Fund, they were sent to Georgetown, Ontario, beginning in 1923, where they were expected to be brought up as good Canadian farmers.
The “Georgetown Boys,” as they became known, were viewed as “Canada’s noble experiment.” Would these boys forget the horrors which they had witnessed and be able to grow normally? Would they have to abandon their ancient cultural heritage, their language and their names in order to adjust to life in Canada?
The book The Georgetown Boys, long out of print, written by one of the boys himself, Jack Apramian, has been revised and edited by Prof. Lorne Shirinian, the son of a Georgetown Boy, and republished by the Zoryan Institute. Based on original documentary research, interviews with the Boys, and his own first-hand experience, Apramian gives detailed insights into the daily lives of the boys and an understanding of how they fared. Their story is told with a sense of humor, humanity, and history. In a larger sense, this book is the chronicle of all those who have sought refuge in North America from persecution, hunger and death.
For the new edition, Shirinian has provided a new introduction, setting the story in its historical context, both Armenian and Canadian. There are also previously unpublished documents and photographs. The book will be on sale the night of the lecture and available for signing.
Lorne Shirinian is the author of numerous books of short fiction, poetry, plays, as well as critical articles and books on literature and Armenian diaspora culture, including Writing Memory: The Search for Home in Armenian Diaspora Literature As Cultural Practice, The Landscape of Memory: Perspectives on the Armenian Diaspora, Memory’s Orphans, When Darkness Falls Upon Us and Rough Landing. He is Professor of English at the Royal Military College of Canada.
Admission to the lecture at NAASR is free (donations appreciated). The NAASR Center is located opposite the First Armenian Church and next to the U.S. Post Office. Ample parking is available around the building and in adjacent areas. The lecture will begin promptly at 8:00 p.m.
More information about the lecture is available by calling 617-489-1610, faxing 617-484-1759, e-mailing hq@naasr.org, or writing to NAASR, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.

Naasr