Marine Petrossian


Marine Petrossian is an Armenian poet, essayist and columnist.

Poet

The start of Marine Petrossian’s literary career coincided with the ending of the Soviet Union. Her first book was published in Yerevan in 1993, just two years after Armenia, formerly Soviet Republic, became independent.
The poems of this volume were translated into French by Vahe Godel and in 1995 French Editions Comp’Act published J’apporterai des pierres by Petrossian. Encouraged by success of the book Editions Comp’Act soon published the second book of Marine Petrossian, Erevan, 2003.
Since then, Petrossian has published another four volumes of poetry in Armenia.
In 2015, Argentinian publisher Audisea published Disparó el arma by Petrossian, comprising poems translated into Spanish by Alice Ter-Ghevondian. The presentation of the book took place at the National Library of Argentina and well-known newspaper Página/12 invited Petrossian to interview.
Petrossian has been writer-in-residence at Djerassi Artists Residency, Woodside, California, as Artist Laureate of UNESCO-Aschberg bursaries ; at Q21, MuseumsQuartier Vienna ; as well as at Omi International Arts Center, New York City.
Petrossian self-translates her poetry into English. Some of her self-translations can be found in Transcript – Europe's online review of international writing, as well as in Deviation, Anthology of Contemporary Armenian Literature

Essayist

Petrossian’s essay "Antipoetry, or When the Poet Does Not Seek an Alibi" has aroused intense discussions in Armenian literary circles. In this essay, Petrossian speaks about "antipoetry"—poetry that does not look like poetry and challenges the prevailing notion of poetry—and asserts that it is the leading tendency in contemporary Armenian poetry.
Marine Petrossian is largely known in Armenia also as a columnist. In 2007-2009, a period of tense political developments before and after Armenian presidential election, 2008, she led a weekly column in Haikakan jamanak daily, the main opposition newspaper. Her essays on political issues of the day had an unprecedently large readership and made her a public figure in Armenia: many TV programs invite her to comment on public issues. These essays later were collected in her book Red Poster. In 2007, Petrossian received "Tigran Hayrapetian" award for her essay "Why the War does not Come to an End".

Books