Inga Zhghenti

Inga Zhghenti, Ph.D., is a distinguished scholar, university professor of English, literary translator, editor, and international poetry reviewer based in New York City. She currently serves as a Visiting Professor of English at DeVry University, where she teaches Composition and Advanced Composition, and as Director of the Language Arts Program at the Georgian Cultural Center Dancing Crane. She is also a member of the Editorial Board of the International Peer-Reviewed Online Journal of Humanities (ETAGTSU).

Zhghenti earned her Ph.D. in Philology, English Language and Literature, from Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University in 2017. A recipient of the Fulbright Research Award, she conducted postdoctoral research as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Stockton University, New Jersey in 2021, focusing on gender representation in Edward Albee’s drama and in Georgian stage interpretations of American plays. Her scholarly interests include English and American literature, comparative literature, modern drama, literary theory, philosophy, and translation studies. She has presented her research at international academic conferences and events across the United States, Europe, and Asia. In February 2026, Zhghenti was invited to moderate a poetry session at Harvard University’s Department of Comparative Literature.

As a literary translator working between English and Georgian, Zhghenti has translated Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Krapp’s Last Tape, along with poetry by Louise Glück, Emily Dickinson, John Updike, Diane di Prima, Charles Bernstein, Patrick Rosal, and others. Her Georgian-to-English translations include poetry by classical and contemporary Georgian authors. Most recently, her English translation of Andro Dadiani’s Purgatorio was selected for presentation at an international poetry festival in Belgium in September 2026.

Zhghenti is also active in international literary criticism and poetry reviewing. Her recent published reviews include critical studies of Dustin Pickering’s Crime of the Extraordinary and Armenida Qyqja’s Golden Armor. Beyond literary translation, her professional interpreting and translation experience includes legal and immigration matters, conferences, forums, and other professional settings.

Through her teaching, scholarship, translation, reviewing, and editorial work, Zhghenti advances cross-cultural dialogue between Georgia and the English-speaking world and explores how language and literature create meaning across cultural and linguistic boundaries.