Gurgen Mahari (Gurgen Grigori Ajemian) was an Armenian writer and poet. In 1915 during the Armenian genocide Gurgen's family emigrated to Russia. The "Burgeoned Barbwires" is his autobiographical trilogy which tells his story of survivor and the tragedy experienced by Armenians in Western Armenia. He was arrested by Soviet secret police at the period of Stalinism and released after Joseph Stalin's death (Mahari was sentenced to 10 years' confinement in 1937, returned in 1947 and one year later exiled again).