Today we talk about The Adventures of Mshko Mshkoyan, a book by Abel Mikayelyan published with our publishing house Europe Books.
Europe Books had the pleasure of interviewing the author Abel Mikayelyan to get to know him better, where and when he found the inspiration to write his book The Adventures of Mshko Mshkoyan, as well as how he felt to see his book published.
Below you can find our interview. Take a seat and enjoy your reading!!!
- Where and when did you find the inspiration to write your book?
Very often I take my backpack and start my trip, sometimes don’t even knowing how long the trip will last and where the road will lead me. And the travel god is always kind to me. Wherever I go and how long I stay, I always find the important things, that inspire me to write my books. When travelling you need to see not only what you can see but also what is hidden behind the visible. You need to understand not only the things that you can understand but also the ones that seem to be not understandable. It doesn’t matter whether it is bright whether, or fog surrounding you, it is a green meadow or a muddy field. It doesn’t matter whether you are faced with a monumental sculpture or a graffitied fence, an architectural monument or an abandoned factory, the eighth or one hundred and eighth wonder of the world, or a column standing aimlessly, never noticed by anyone – inspiration can be sought and found everywhere. And this is what happened to me when I was writing “The adventures of Mshko Mshkoyan”. I found the inspiration during my long travels through known and unknown Europe.
- What is the message you want to convey to your readers?
I believe a writer’s message is just one: making the life of the readers both kind and interesting. But to achieve it, you have to make friends with the reader. Well, I extend a hand of friendship to my reader. And my characters eagerly await their acquaintance. They’ll share a message I believe the reader already knows: one must live freely and be strong. But both freedom and strength should have bounds and measure. To the extent that they in no way harm anything that does not deserve to be harmed: a man, a sparrow, a donkey, a flower and even the stones, from which a flower unexpectedly grew. The only thing that knows no bounds is kindness. More precisely, the only thing that should know no bounds is kindness. This is the message I try to convey to the readers. And also, I want to make them believe, that the life is always worth to live.
- What significant story find expression in your book?
The story written in the book is mainly true. Somewhere maybe a bit exaggerated, somewhere a bit bloomed, somewhere politicized but it’s true. Somewhere in the world (I really don’t know where he is now) a human being called Mshko lives. He is a friend of mine. Sometimes he appears in my life, sometimes disappears. And once, some ten or twelve years ago he again appeared and disappeared. But that time her girlfriend asked me to find him and bring back home. And that was what I started to do. But it turned out to be not an easy task. In order to find Mshko one must be very successful. My friend Mshko is a world champion of suddenly disappearing. Also he is a world champion of spending money. It doesn’t matter he has 100 or 100 thousand Euros in his wallet or on his card, he can spend the money with same speed. That time he had 350 thousand Euros on the card. But the most interesting thing was, that the card belonged not to him, but his girlfriend. The latter could block the card of course, but she preferred not to do that in order to know where exactly her sweetheart was at the moment. Every time she received a notification from her bank about the transaction made by her card, she gave me the coordinates. The coordinates, where Mshko should be. I followed him from Western Europe to Eastern Europe, then to Russia and every time he was a step forward me.
- How did it feel to see your book published?
”The adventures of Mshko Mshkoyan” is my first book published abroad. I have another six books published in my homeland. No matter how much I travel, no matter how much time I spend in other countries, my roots are in Armenia, and I look at the world through the eyes of my homeland. In my books, I try to understand the difference in the behavior, thinking, approaches, and worldview of people living in my homeland and in other developed and underdeveloped countries of the world. Sometimes I understand, sometimes I don’t. However, I convey to the reader what I understand or what I don’t understand. Until now, my readers have been mainly my compatriots. Now my books will be read by representatives of various other nations. Of course, that’s wonderful.
- Are you working on a new writing project, you can tell us about?
I’m almost done with my new book. I think it will be titled “Hello Daisies”. In order to write this book I travelled to Russia three times during last two years. Two of them by my car, crossing more than 20 thousand kilometers. I have been to many large and small cities, towns and villages, the shores of the Volga, Yenisei, Ob, Don Rivers, Baikal, Ladoga and Caspian lakes, the Black, White, Azov, Baltic and Barents Seas, the Ural Mountains, the valleys of the Volga region, the Siberian taiga and many other places. Everywhere I have admired the beautiful nature and mostly met wonderful people – hospitable, caring and kind. And I try to understand why, having such a huge and wonderful natural and human resource, Russia has a reputation as an evil country. And is it really an evil country? And if it’s so, what is the fault of people and society in this.
Europe Books thanks the author Abel Mikayelyan once again for taking the time and answering our questions. We are really pleased to have walked alongside him on the editorial path that led to the publication of his book The Adventures of Mshko Mshkoyan. We wish him the best of luck for his book and for his future works.
To you, my readers, may this book provide you with ideas and inspiration on how to live freely, always remembering to respect and not harm others. But above all, may it remind us that kindness is one of the most important values for living life to the fullest and at peace with ourselves and the world around us.
So, my dear reader, all I have to say is to enjoy your reading!
Your editor!