Christopher Atamian


Christopher Peter Atamian is a New York-based literary critic, writer, translator, curator and filmmaker who was the recipient of the 2015 Ellis Island Medal of Honor. He has translated works from French and Armenian into English including; The Bois de Vincennes, The Rosy Future of War, Fifty Years of Armenian Literature in France, and Trashland.
Born to immigrants, Christopher grew up and studied in the United States where he received his BA in literature from Harvard University and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich as a Fulbright fellow. He then studied at USC School of Cinematic Arts and Columbia Business School, where he received an MBA in international media. In 2013, he was awarded the Tölölyan Literary Prize for translating Nigoghos Sarafian's The Bois de Vincennes and in 2017 he received a second Tölölyan Literary Prize for his debut poetry collection A Poet in Washington Heights.

Biography

Early life: background and education

Atamian was born in New York City to immigrant Swiss-Italian and Lebanese-Armenian parents. He studied at the Lycée Français de New York and graduated from Collegiate School in 1985, where he was a National Merit Semifinalist. Atamian earned his BA in Literature at Harvard University. He later proceeded to the Swiss National Polytechnic in Zürich on a Fulbright Fellowship. He is also an alumnus of USC Film School and Columbia Business School, where he earned his MBA in International Media.

Career breakthrough: curation and filmmaking

Atamian is the co-founder and curator of Atamian Hovsepian Curatorial Practice, a gallery and cultural center located in New York City. AHCP seeks to exhibit the full spectrum of creators including women, LGBTQ+, BIPOC, SWANA and other artists and practices whose methods, forms and expressions have been unrecognized or marginalized. Atamian has directed and produced short videos and films including Sarafian's Desire, a short video based on his translation of Nigoghos Sarafian's The Bois de Vincennes.
His work has also been screened at the 2009 Venice Art Biennale as part of Voulu/Obligé Armenian Diaspora Pavilion as part of Berlin's Underconstruction Artist collective.
Atamian co-produced the OBIE Award-winning play Trouble in Paradise, Dear Armen, MTV music videos, the dance film Psychic Data Mining and an experimental film For You, My Beloved Grandparents, which screened at the 2005 Yerevan International Film Festival.
Atamian has authored several screenplays, including The Plagiarist, Resurrection Myth/''Harnoomi Arasbel'' which was screened at the 2021 ARPA International Film Festival, 2021 Tokyo International Short Film Festival and received Gulbenkian Foundation’s 2020 Be Heard! Prize.

Publications

Translations: from French to English

The Rosy Future of War, by Philippe Delmas, Free Press, 1999Fifty Years of Armenian Literature in France, by Krikor Beledian, 2016, Fresno State University PressTrashland, by Denis Donikian, Nauset Press, 2023A History of the Armenian Language, by Marc Nichanian, Fresno State University press, forthcoming in 2024Literature and Catastrophe, by Marc Nichanian, Fresno State University Press, forthcoming in 2024

Translations: from Armenian to English

The Bois de Vincennes, by Nigoghos Sarafian, Michigan State University Press, 2013Ararat by Davit Hakobyan, AGBU Books, 2022

Writing career

Creative writing

Atamian's first book of poetry A Poet in Washington Heights received the 2017 Tölölyan Literary Prize. His essays have appeared in; The New Criterion, The Hye-Phen Magazine, Rusted Radishes: Beirut Literary and Art Journal, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Harpy Hybrid Review and Yerevan Magazine. His essay As I Lay Dying: AIDS and Perec's Endotic was awarded second prize in the Question Your Teaspoons international essay competition, co-sponsored by IALA and Oxford University.

Journalism and criticism

Atamian co-published and edited KGB Magazine. He is the former dance critic for the New York Press and has written for New York Times Book Review, Vogue, New York, Dance Magazine, The Brooklyn Rail, HuffPost, Scenes Media, The Armenian Mirror-Spectator, and the non-profit online weekly magazine EVN Report.

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Armenian and LGBTQ

Atamian had been a supporter of the LGBTQ community serving as the president of AGLA NY for two consecutive terms. He was profiled in the Aurora Prize's 100 Lives as one of the most prominent members of Armenian diaspora.

Awards and grants

Atamian was awarded the 2015 Ellis Island Medal of Honor. He has also received two Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation grants for translation. In 2013, he was awarded the Tölölyan Literary Prize for his translation of Nigoghos Sarafian's The Bois de Vincennes.