Ivan Kakovitch was born on December 9, 1933, in Kiev, USSR, and died on December 22, 2006, in Paris, France. He was an Assyrian author, journalist, professor, and nationalist leader. He wrote the Assyrian Manifesto and the novel Mount Semele.

As an ethnic Assyrian, Ivan’s family fled their homeland in Iraq during the Simele massacre in August 1933. This event remained a central focus of Ivan’s life. In 1938, when Ivan was 5 years old, his family moved to Kazakhstan, where he began primary school. In 1944, the family relocated again, this time to an Assyrian community in Tehran, Iran. In Iran, Ivan and his brothers, Thoma and Shurik, attended San Louis French Parochial School. In 1956, at age 23, Ivan traveled to France to study classical literature. Later, he moved to Strasbourg to continue his education in the classics. In 1959, at age 26, Ivan moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked at the Berlitz School of Languages, teaching Russian, French, and Persian. He also worked at the Voice of America, translating and interpreting in those languages. Ivan was unique in the Assyrian community for believing in atheism, meaning he did not believe in a god or life after death. He expressed this belief in his novel Mount Semele.

In the late 1970s, Ivan gained recognition for writing the Assyrian Manifesto, a plan for creating a temporary Assyrian government. He presented the document at an Assyrian congress in Chicago. Political groups, including the Assyrian Universal Alliance and the Bet Nahrain Democratic Party, supported his plan. At the meeting, it was decided that Ivan would return to Washington, D.C., to establish an office for the International Confederation of Assyrian Nation (ICAN). While many Assyrian organizations initially supported the project financially, they later stopped funding it after a few months.

In 2001, while living in Cypress, California, Ivan completed writing Mount Semele, the story he had focused on since childhood. The Simele massacre affected Ivan’s family, forcing them to move from country to country, and also influenced his personal life. On December 21, 2006, Ivan died unexpectedly in France while on vacation, despite having few health issues. He was buried on January 9, 2007, at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles.