Alicia Ghiragossian

Alicia Ghiragossian was an Armenian-Argentine poet and translator. Born in Argentina as the daughter of Armenian parents, she began publishing poetry in the late 1960s before settling in Los Angeles in 1971. Writing in three languages (Spanish, English and Armenian) she was the author of more than 60 books, including (Being and Punctuation), which was illustrated by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. Her work has been recognised with a nomination for the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Life Alicia Ghiragossian was born in 1936, the daughter of Armenian parents in Córdoba, Argentina. Her parents had emigrated to Argentina after the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire. She obtained a law degree form the University of Buenos Aires and began practicing as a lawyer, but abandoned the profession to pursue a publishing career. She moved to Los Angeles in 1971 where she resided until her death in 2014. She had a daughter named Lara.

Career In 1967, Ghiragossian published a collection of poetry (Being and Punctuation), having published her first book the previous year. The collection was translated into Italian and illustrated by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso.