Diana Arterian

Born and raised in Arizona, Diana Arterian is a poet, critic, translator, and editor who earned her PhD in literature and creative writing at the University of Southern California and her MFA in poetry from CalArts. Her debut collection, Playing Monster :: Seiche (1913 Press, 2017), received a starred review in Publishers Weekly and was a Poetry Foundation staff pick. Arterian’s most recent works are Agrippina the Younger: Poems (Northwestern University Press/Curbstone, 2025) and Smoke Drifts: Selected Poems (World Poetry Books, 2025), her edited co-translations of the contemporary Afghan poet Nadia Anjuman. Arterian has penned two chapbooks, With Lightness & Darkness (Essay Press, 2017) and Death Centos (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2014), and co-edited the anthology Among Margins: Critical & Lyrical Writing on Aesthetics (Ricochet, 2016).

A poetry editor at Noemi Press and two-time finalist for the National Poetry Series, Arterian’s creative work has been recognized with fellowships from the Banff Centre, Caldera, Millay Arts, Vermont Studio Center, and Yaddo. Her poetry, nonfiction, criticism, co-translations, and conversations have been featured by the Academy of American Poets, BOMB, Brooklyn Rail, Harvard Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, NPR, The New York Times Book Review, among others. Arterian lives in Los Angeles and writes "The Annotated Nightstand" column at LitHub.

Arterian was a featured writer on Harriet in August 2018.