Nina Kossman
Current City, State, Country
Birth City, State, Country
Biography
Nina Kossman, born in the former Soviet Union, is a writer, poet, playwright, and painter. She has authored, translated, or edited more than 11 books in English and Russian. She received a UNESCO/PEN Short Story Award, an NEA fellowship, and grants from the Foundation for Hellenic Culture, the Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, and Fundación Valparaíso. Her work has appeared in over ninety magazines and anthologies, including The Virginia Quarterly Review, Columbia, The Threepenny Review, Tin House, Pen International, etc. It has been translated into many languages, including French, Italian, Greek, Hebrew, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, German, Persian, Chinese, and Japanese. She lives in New York.
Published Works
Poetry
Gods of Unfinished Business (Cervena Barva Press, 2025)
Poem of the End: 6 Narrative Poems, by 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 (Poets & Traitors Press, 2020)
По правую руку сна. Po Pravuiu ruku sna. Poems in Russian. (Побережье (Poberezh’e), 1996)
Перебои (Pereboi), Poems in Russian and English. (Художественная литература, 1990. Нина Косман (Коссман) Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura, 1990)
Fiction
Оправдание мартышки (Kyiv, Ukraine, 2024)
Queen of the Jews, [NL Herzenberg] (London: Philistine Press, 2015. 2017. Russian translation (“Царица иудейская”) published in Moscow (Рипол, 2019)
Memoir
Behind the Border (William Morrow, 1994, 1995. New York: Harper Collins, (hardcover), 1996), and in Japanese: Tokyo: Asunaro Shobo, 1996.
Plays
“The Way to Paradise” December 2025 in “Тайные тропы” magazine, Dec. 2025
Foreign Gifts in Asymptote—performed by “Global Female Voices,” London, April 2018; by The Ventura Court Theatre, Studio City, CA, March 1998; produced by Theatre Arts Department, Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, VA, 2017
Водные процедуры in Этажи (Etazhi)
Mirror in Off the Wall Plays—produced by Moonlit Wings Productions, Washington D.C.Art. “Mirror” was produced (among other places) Spag Bol Productions, Ferny Grove State School, Queensland, Australia, 2018
Foreign Gifts in Off the Wall Plays.
One-act plays (From Russia with Gum, The Road to City Hall, Miracles) were produced by The Theatre Studio, 1997-1998
Miracles—produced in New York, New Jersey, and London.
Translated Works
Poem of the End: Selected and Narrative Lyrical Poems of Marina Tsvetaeva. Translated by Nina Kossman (Ardis Publishers, 1998; Overlook Press, 2004; Abrams Press, 2009)
In the Inmost Hour Soul. Vox Humana, Selected poems by Marina Tsvetaeva. Translated by Nina Kossman. (Humana Press, 1989
Edited Books
Gods and Mortals: Modern Poems on Classical Myths, anthology (editor) (Oxford University Press, 2001)
Author Site
Links to Sample Works
Video Reading
Current Title
Education
Bennington College, undergraduate
Hunter College, graduate