Diana Der Hovanessian (May 21, Year of birth unknown– March 1, 2018),
Armenian American poet, translator, and author. Much of the subject of her poetry was about Armenia and the Armenian diaspora. She wrote and published over twenty-five books.
Life and career
Diana Der Hovanessian was born in
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...
, to an Armenian family. She received her education at
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...
, majoring in English, and then continued her education at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
, studying under
Robert Lowell.
She became an American literature professor at
Yerevan State University
Yerevan State University (YSU; hy, Երևանի Պետական Համալսարան, ԵՊՀ, ''Yerevani Petakan Hamalsaran''), also simply University of Yerevan, is the oldest continuously operating public university in Armenia. Founded in 1919 ...
, and twice a
Fulbright Professor of Armenian Poetry. She led many workshops including
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...
,
Bard College
Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark.
Founded in 1860, ...
, and
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, as well as being a visiting poet and lecturer on American poetry, Armenian poetry in translation. and the literature of human rights in the United States and abroad. For over thirty years she served as the president of the New England Poetry Club, and was on the translation board of
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. She worked as a poet in the Massachusetts schools.
Three volumes of her poetry were translated into Armenian and published in Yerevan. Her works were also translated into Greek, French and Romanian. Der Hovanessian's poems have appeared in
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
,
The Christian Science Monitor
''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...
,
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
,
Paris Review
''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Phil ...
, the
Writer's Almanac,
AGNI
Agni (English: , sa, अग्नि, translit=Agni) is a Sanskrit word meaning fire and connotes the Vedic fire deity of Hinduism. He is also the guardian deity of the southeast direction and is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu ...
,
The American Poetry Review
''The American Poetry Review'' (''APR'') is an American poetry magazine printed every other month on tabloid-sized newsprint. It was founded in 1972 by Stephen Berg and Stephen Parker in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The magazine's editor is Elizabet ...
, and
The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...
, among many others.
Awards
Diana Der Hovanessian's awards include:
*Gold Medal from the Minister of Culture of Armenia
*Mesrob Mashtots Translation Award (2003)
*Armenian National Library Medal
*Armenian Writers Union Award
*The PEN-New England GOLDEN PEN Award
*The National Writers Union Award
*National Endowment for the Arts award (1993)
*St. Sahag Medal
*Paterson Prize
*International Poetry Forum publication prize
*QRL Colladay publication prize
*Awards from American Scholar and Prairie Schooner
*PEN/Columbia Translation Award
*Anahid Award from the Columbia University Armenian Center
*The Barcelona Peace Prize
*
Armand Erpf translation prize
*Boston University Distinguished Alumni Award
*Mary Caroline Davies Poetry Society of America Lyric Poem Award
*New England Poetry Club Gretchen Warren Award
*Numerous prizes from the World Order of Narrative Poets
Her poetry has been translated into Armenian, Greek, French and Romanian.
Partial bibliography
*How to choose your past (1978)
*
*Come sit beside me and listen to Kouchag: Medieval Poems of Nahabed Kouchag (1984)
*About time: poems (1987)
*Songs of bread, songs of salt (1990)
*Selected Poems (1994)
*The Circle Dancers (1996)
*Any Day Now : poems (1999)
*The Burning Glass : poems (2002)
*The Other Voice: Armenian Women's Poetry Through the Ages (2005)
*The Second Question : poems (2007)
*Dancing at the monastery : poems (2011)
References
External links
"I write almost every day" (Interview with Der Hovanessian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Der Hovanessian, Diana
1934 births
2018 deaths
Writers from Worcester, Massachusetts
Armenian women poets
American people of Armenian descent
Armenian educators
Boston University College of Arts and Sciences alumni
Harvard University alumni
Academic staff of Yerevan State University
Armenian-language women poets
Armenian-language poets
21st-century Armenian women writers
21st-century Armenian writers
20th-century Armenian women writers
20th-century Armenian writers