Nina Kossman

Nina Kossman (Russian: Нина Косман [Kosman]; born in Moscow, USSR) is a bilingual Russian-American poet, memoirist, playwright, translator of Russian poetry, editor, and artist.^[1]

Nina Kossman (Нина Косман)
Born	Moscow
Occupation	Author
Language	English, Russian
Genre	Jewish Literature, Historical Fiction, Migrant Literature, Immigration in Literature, Immigrant Literature, Bilingual Poetry

Life and career[]

Nina Kossman was born in Moscow. She spent some time in Israel, Ohio, Vermont, California, and Mexico; currently, she is based in New York. She has authored, edited, translated, or both edited and translated more than nine books in English and Russian. She is the recipient of an NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) fellowship ^[2][3] and grants from Foundation for Hellenic Culture and the Onassis Public Benefit Foundation.^[4][5] Her poems have been translated from English into French,^[6] Russian;^[7][8] Spanish;^[9][10] Hebrew;^[11] Persian;^[12] Chinese,^[13] while Behind the Border, her book of short stories about her childhood in the Soviet Union, has been translated into Japanese.^[14] In addition to writing in English (her second language), she writes poetry and prose in her first language, Russian, and has an extensive list of publications in major Russian-language journals, in and outside of Russia.^[15] In 2021, she became the founding editor of EastWest Literary Forum, a bilingual literary magazine, published in Russian & English.

Literary critic Cynthia Haven writes in The Bookhaven: “Twenty years ago, critic Harold Bloom wrote to the young poet Nina Kossman to tell her that her “intensely eloquent” translations of the poet Marina Tsvetaeva manage to “capture the doom-eager splendor of a superbly gifted poet.” W.S. Merwin wrote that these are “direct, strong, audible translations,” adding, “I hear Tsvetaeva’s voice, more of it, and in a new pitch, which makes something clear in her poems that I had only guessed at before.” ^[16]

Poet and literary critic Emma Lee writes in her review of Kossman’s book “Other Shepherds": “Nina Kossman was born in Russia and is bilingual in Russian and English. Initially she wrote in Russian because ‘English was the language I had to use in the outside world—at school, in the city, etc. Instead, my poems sprang from the interior world, and at that age I resisted the outside world and created—possibly at the expense of a comfortable co-existence with my peers—a world of my own.’ The themes of alienation in Marina Tsvetaeva’s poems spoke to Kossman’s experience.” ^[17]

Canadian culture and literary critic Donald  Brackett writes about Kossman in his review of her book published in Critics at Large: “Alienation and nostalgia are, of course, the bread and butter of most exiles, but in the case of Kossman, displaced in America during its own time of social and political upheaval (one hauntingly like our own era today), those emotional states, shared by the older poet, were intangibles that could potentially damage or even destroy a person if they gave in to them without resistance but which could, as Tsvetaeva herself so clearly demonstrated in a model manner, also transform themselves into the raw material for the art of poetry. Initially, consumed by and consuming what she called this “cocktail of nostalgia, alienation and immersion in Tsvetaeva” enabled Kossman to embark upon the writing of her own poems, initially in Russian despite the fact that she was now living in English.” ^[18]

Russian literary critic and poet Daniil Chkonia writes in his introduction to Kossman's poems in Emigrantskaya Lira, a major Russian poetry journal: "Nina Kossman's poems … combine ancient Greek myths with modern sensibility…She skillfully interweaves historical cultural layers with events of our time, creating her own picture of life, in its continuity and unity."^[19] 

Aleksey Sinitsyn, a Russian literary critic and novelist, writes in his review of the Russian edition of Kossman’s novel: “...this is intellectual prose of outstanding artistic merit [...] The author manages to show subtleties of communication between the individual and the collective, the factual and the mythological, the historical and the personal, and to demonstrate the connection that makes the fate of an individual inseparable from the fate of her people."^[20]

Another Russian critic, Olga Bugoslavskaya, writes in her review of Kossman's novel: “…our former compatriot Nina Kossman offers her own version of a love story, set against a backdrop of animosity. ... Her novel… is poetic, beautiful and stylistically original. It rehabilitates the concept of the literary use of ideology and points out a fatal mistake we all make when we begin to rely on common cliches, averting our eyes from reality.”  ^[21]

Early life and Family[]

Nina Kossman emigrated from the Soviet Union with her family in 1972 and came to the US in 1973.  Her father, Leonid Kossman, was a notable linguist, philologist, author of textbooks on German phraseology and English usage and grammar for Russian speakers, and journalist,^[22] who had emigrated from Russia twice (in 1918 and in 1972). He managed to leave Riga (Latvia) three days before the occupation of Latvia by the Nazi army. All the remaining members of his family, including his wife (Teresa Jacobi) and mother (Ruth Brenson), perished in the Holocaust in Riga. Nina Kossman’s maternal grandfather was killed by Stalinists during the Great Terror.^[23][24] Her mother, Maya Borisovna Shternberg, was a notable biologist.^[25] Her paternal great-grandfather was Isidor Brenson, a notable physician and historian of Baltic medicine.^{[26][27][28][29][30]}

Selected Bibliography[]

Books[]

• Poem of the End: 6 Narrative Poems. Marina Tsvetaeva. Translated by Nina Kossman. Swindon, UK: Shearsman Books, 2021.
• “Other Shepherds” a book of original poems by Nina Kossman and translations of Marina Tsvetaeva’s poems. New York: Poets & Traitors Press, 2020.
• “Queen of the Jews”. (Published under a pen name [NL Herzenberg]). London: Philistine Press, 2015. 2017. In Russian translation –Нина Косман. “Царица иудейская”. Moscow: Рипол / Ripol, 2019.
• Gods and Mortals: Modern Poems on Classical Myths, anthology (editor). New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
• “Behind the Border” New York: William Morrow, 1994. New York: Harper Collins, 1994 (hardcover), 1996.
• "Behind the Border" in Japanese. Tokyo: Asunaro Shobo, 1994.
• Poem of the End: Selected and Narrative Lyrical Poems of Marina Tsvetaeva. Translated by Nina Kossman. Ann Arbor: Ardis Publishers, 1998. New York: Overlook Press, 2004. New York: Abrams Press, 2009.
• По правую руку сна. Po Pravuiu ruku sna. Poems in Russian. Philadelphia: Побережье (Poberezh’e), 1996.
• In the Inmost Hour Soul. Vox Humana. Selected poems by Marina Tsvetaeva. Translated by Nina Kossman. Clifton: Humana Press, 1989.
• Перебои (Pereboi), Poems in Russian and English. Художественная литература, 1990. Нина Косман (Коссман) Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura, 1990.

Selected Poems in Anthologies[]

• English translation of Kossman's poem "Like Lambs" (tr. by Mary Jane White) in the anthology "101 Jewish Poems for the Third Millenium", ed. Nancy Carlson & M. Silverman. Ashland Press, 2020.
• Birth of Mercury in May Litterateur RW Kerala, India, 2021.
• Five poems in Russian Women Modern Poetry in Translation
• Poems in An Anthology of Contemporary Russian Women Poets. Edited by Daniel Weissbort and Valentina Polukhina. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City, 2005
• Russian Women Poets, Modern Poetry in Translation, No. 20, King's College, London, 2002
• Four poems in Gods and Mortals: Modern Poems on Classical Myths, an anthology of modern poetry based on classical mythology. Oxford University Press. New York, 2001.
• Poems in Nuestra Voz / Our Voice, Anthologia del Comite de Escritoras del PEN Club Internacional, Salta, Argentina, 2001.
• Two poems in the anthology "The Gospels in Our Image". New York / San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1995.
• Two poems in International Women Poets Anthology, LIPS, 1993.

Selected Poetry in Literary Journals[]

• “Birth of Mercury” in May 2021 anthology Litterateur RW, Kerala, India, 2021.
• Poems in Vox Populi. 2021
• Poems in Vox Populi  2021  
• Poems in Vox Populi  
• Poems in Vox Populi  
• “One by One” in Another Chicago Magazine.2021.
• Poems in The Cafe Review, Winter 2021 issue.
• Long poem in “Среда” Moscow, Russia, 2020.
• Four poems in “Среда” Moscow, Russia, 2020.
• Poems in “WordCity Monthly”
• “Like lambs” in “101 Jewish Poems for the Third Мillenium”, anthology, edited by Nancy Carlson & М.Silverman. Ashland Press, 2020. Poems in Eratio Postmodern Poetry. “Flock” in Ekphrastic Review. 2020.
• “Valley of Closed Eyes” and “Annunciation” in The Blue Nib.
• Poems in The Classical Outlook, Volume 95, Number 1.
• “Empty Rock” Seven poems in Live Encounters (January 2020).
•  “See how they watch you” Seven poems in Live Encounters (December 2019) issue.
• “Lament for Odysseus” Six poems in Live Encounters (September 2019).
• “Forever and Ever”, “ Show Cooled”, “As I Pass Your Jail Door” in Unlikely Stories.
• Three poems in Trafika Europe.
• A cycle of poems in “Why NiCHT?”, a trilingual literary journal (Vienna, Austria). #7, Spring 2018.
• “Shape of a Whisper” in Contemporary Verse 2. The Canadian Journal of Poetry and Critical Thinking, vol. 38, issue 4. Spring 2016.
• Two poems in When Women Waken (2015)
• “Ismul the Boy Warrior” in Modern Poetry Review. Issue 2, March 2015.
• Four poems in Gods and Mortals: Modern Poems on Classical Myths. Oxford University Press, New York / Oxford, 2001.
• Two poems in Virginia Quarterly Review, vol.72, Number 2, 1996.
• Two poems in The Gospels in Our Image: An Anthology Harcourt Brace, New York/San Diego, 1995.
• Poems in The Connecticut Poetry Review, Volume 14, number 1, 1995.
• Poems in Prairie Schooner, Volume 70, Number 3, Fall 1996.
• Two poems in Quarterly West, No. 40, Summer 1995.
• Poems in Orbis, no. 89/90, Summer / Autumn 1993, Nuneaton, Warwickshire, UK.
• Two poems in International Women Poets Anthology, LIPS, Issue 17, 1993.
• Orphic Lute, Vancouver, Canada, 1993.
• Four poems in Alea, Number 1, Spring 1990.
• Poem The New Renaissance, Vol. VIII, No.2, 1989.
• Poems in Southern Humanities Review, Spring 1986.

Selected Short Stories in Literary Magazines[]

• “About a Woman Who Was Glad She Was Born a Woman” and “Read Your Book!”  in Body.
• “Doll” and “Mother’s Love” in Word City, 2021.
• “Translator”  
• Three short stories in Mumbermag, 2020: * “Ochi”
• ** “A New Year’s Tree or Atheism in Communist Countries”  
• *** “Two Dreams about Trump”
• An excerpt from “The Hasmonean Chronicle” in WordCity Monthly (December 2020)
• “Story About the Old Wall Rug”
• “I Owe My Life to a Bullet that Pierced My Father’s Skull”; “One Day” ;”One Woman Decided to Stop Going to work”.
• 2014 “Your Students or Your Customers” in PEN America.
• “Clockwatch” in Tin House, Vol. 5, Number 3, Spring 2004.
• “A Monthly Tea” in Confrontation, No. 72/73, Fall 2000/Winter 2001.
• Nuestra Voz / Our Voice, Anthologia del Comite de Escritoras del PEN Club Internacional, Salta, Argentina, 2001.
• “A Monthly Tea” in Confrontation. No.72/73. Fall 2000/Winter2001.
• Short Story in Art Times, June 2000.
• “Family Planning”  in Michigan Poetry Review, Arthur Miller issue, University of Michigan, Fall 1998. “Spring, 1941” in Columbia, issue 29, 1998. Short Fiction in Prism International, Vol. 36, No.2, Winter 1998.
• Short stories (in Dutch) in Horizon, Number 102, winter 1997-1998; Number 103, Summer 1998; Number 104, winter 1998-1999. Belgium. “The Episode” in The Threepenny Review, #71, Fall 1997. “Sergeichik” in Wind Magazine, Number 80, 1997.
• “Pen International, Volume XIV, Number 2, 1995 (winners of the UNESCO/PEN Short Story Award). London.
• “Enmeshed” in Mundus Artium, Volume XV, Numbers 1&2, 1985.
• “Enmeshed 1” in The New Southern Literary Messenger, Richmond, Virginia, Spring 1985.
• “A Talk, Taped” in Sepia, Cornwall, England, 1985.

Plays[]

• “Foreign Gifts” in Asymptote
• “Водные процедуры”
• “Mirror” in Off the Wall Plays.
• “Foreign Gifts” in Off the Wall Plays.
• “Mirror” was produced by Moonlit Wings Productions, Washington D.C.
• One-act play in Women Playwrights: The Best Plays of 2000. Smith and Kraus, 2000.
• Monologues in 221 One-Minute Monologues for Women. Edited by Capecci and Ziegler Aston.
• “Mirror” was produced (among other places) produced by theater department, Blacksburg, VA, in November. Spag Bol Productions, Ferny Grove State School, Queensland, Australia, 2018.
• “Foreign Gifts” was performed by “Global Female Voices”, London, April 2018; by The Ventura Court Theatre, Studio City, CA, March 1998.
• “Miracles” was produced by Theatre Arts Department, Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, VA, 2017.
• One-act plays (From Russia with Gum, The Road to City Hall, Miracles) produced by The Theatre Studio, 1997-1998; “Miracles” was produced in New York, New Jersey, London.

References[]

External links[]

• Encyclopedia (Nina Kossman in encyclopedia.com - in English)
• Review of Kossman's book for young readers in Kirkus Reviews
• Dictionary of Russian Women Writers. (Kossman) Kosman, Nina: pp. 324-325
• Libraries / World Catalog. N. Kossman
• Bilingual magazine edited by Kossman
• Library of Congress Nina Kossman
• Kossman's official website