Gevorg Emin

For his poetry, Emin was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1951 and the USSR State Prize in 1976. In 1972, he toured the United States with Yevtushenko giving poetry readings. His American experience reflected in some of his later poems, published in Land, Love, Century, including Gravestone in a Negro Cemetery, First Night in New York, and In the Streets of Boston.

Emin's roots as a poet are deeply embedded in the culture and the physical landscape of the country he grew up in. To this is added his extensive reading of modern poetry, especially French symbolist poets, and his enduring faith in the power of poetry. From 1941 to 1945, Emin fought (and was wounded) in World War II. His poetry makes no specific references to his own war experiences but often refers to the Armenian genocide.

In school, Emin met Armenia's leading poet Yegishe Charents, who died in 1937 in a Soviet prison. Emin recalls in his preface to For You on New Year's Day:

Emin, the son of a school teacher, was born in the town of Ashtarak. In 1927, his family moved to Yerevan, the capital of Soviet Armenia. In 1936 he finished secondary school; in 1940 he graduated from the local Polytechnical Institute as a hydraulic engineer. After graduation he designed and supervised the building of a hydroelectric power station which is still producing electricity. The power station remained his only engineering accomplishment.

Gevorg Emin (Armenian: Գևորգ Էմին, September 30, 1919 – June 11, 1998) was an Armenian poet, essayist, and translator.