| Khnko Aper | |
| Birth Name: | Atabek Hovhannesi Khnkoyan |
| Birth Date: | 19 October 1870 |
| Birth Place: | Village of Gharaboya, Lori Region, Russian Armenia (now village of Khnkoyan) |
| Death Place: | Yerevan |
| Occupation: | writer |
| Nationality: | Armenian |
Atabek Khnkoyan (Armenian: Աթաբեկ Հովհաննեսի Խնկոյան, 19 October 1870 – 8 October 1935) was an Armenian writer of prose and poetry, who wrote under the pen name Khnko Aper (Armenian: Խնկո Ապեր) and specialized in children's literature.
Khnkoyan was born in the village of Gharaboya in the Lori region, renamed Khnkoyan after him. He received his primary education in his birthplace and then in Alexandropol (current day Gyumri). Between 1890 and 1910 he taught in various Armenian schools in Transcaucasia. He contributed to the periodicals (The Laborer), (The New Laborer), (The Fountain), (The Plowman), (The Armenian Worker-Woman), and (Spikes), a monthly magazine for children.
Following the establishment of the Soviet regime, he settled in Armenia, where he resumed his career as a writer and educator. He wrote several textbooks to teach Armenian children their mother tongue, including (Our School) and (Crimson Sun).
Khnko Aper wrote mainly children's literature: fables, legends, and lyric and narrative poems. His original writings and translation make a total of 120 books. (The peasant and the bear, 1909), (The Lamb Thief, 1911, 1941, 1970), (Mouse, the Intended Bridegroom to Be, 1912), (Parables, 1917, 1930, 1937), (The Yerevan Streetcar, 1934, 1936). (How the Mice Fought the Cat, 1936) (The Pig and the Crow, 1940), (The Wolf and the Cat, 1957) and (The Assembly of Mice, 1957, 1964, 1972, 1979) are among his best known works. Khnko Aper's use of various dialects and popular language add to the charm of his prose and poetry. He died in Yerevan and was buried in the Komitas Pantheon in Yerevan.[1]