{{Short description|French-Russian writer, translator, actor (b. 1989)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Polina Panassenko | image = | caption = | other_names = Pauline Panassenko | birth_name = | birth_date = 3 March 1989 | birth_place = Moscow (USSR) | death_date = | death_place = | burial_place = | nationality = | alma_mater = Sciences-Po Paris | occupation = Writer, translator | years_active = | known_for = ''Tenir sa langue'' (''Hold your tongue'') | spouse = | children = | mother = | father = }} '''Polina Panassenko''' (born 3 March 1989 in Moscow (USSR)), is a French-Russian writer, translator and actor. For her first novel, ''Tenir sa langue'', she won the 2022 Femina des lycéens prize. On 18 November 2022, she was awarded one of the Emmanuèle Bernheim scholarships, to support the writing of her next novel.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Trois auteurs lauréats des Bourses-Emmanuèle Bernheim |url=https://actualitte.com/article/108865/prix-litteraires/trois-auteurs-laureats-des-bourses-emmanuele-bernheim |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=ActuaLitté.com |language=fr-FR}}</ref>
== Biography == Polina Panassenko was born in 1989 in the Soviet Union (USSR). In 1993, her family emigrated to France, to Saint-Étienne where her mathematician-father Grigory Panassenko obtained a position at the university. She became a naturalized French citizen, her first name was changed to Pauline.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2022-09-15 |title=Polina Panassenko raconte la conquête d'une langue étrangère |url=https://www.rts.ch/info/culture/livres/13383596-polina-panassenko-raconte-la-conquete-dune-langue-etrangere.html |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=rts.ch |language=fr}}</ref>
After studying at Sciences-Po Paris, she trained in dramatic art at the Comédie de Saint-Étienne and at the Moscow Art Theatre School-Studio (MKhAT).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Polina Panassenko (auteur de Tenir sa langue) |url=https://www.babelio.com/auteur/Polina-Panassenko/617057 |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=Babelio |language=fr}}</ref>
In 2015, she published an investigation into five of her namesakes, all named ''Polina Grigorievna''. In June 2018, she joined the Russian-speaking committee of the Maison Antoine Vitez.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Polina Panassenko - Artiste |url=https://www.ateliersmedicis.fr/le-reseau/acteur/polina-panassenko-8754 |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=Ateliers Médicis |language=fr}}</ref>
At the start of the 2022 literary season, Panassenko published her first novel ''Tenir sa langue'' (''Hold your tongue'') with publisher Éditions de l'Olivier. The book was named a finalist for several accolades including the Prix Fémina<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Prix Femina 2022: cinq femmes et un homme finalistes |url=https://www.bfmtv.com/culture/prix-femina-2022-cinq-femmes-et-un-homme-finalistes_AD-202210250510.html |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=BFMTV |language=fr}}</ref> and the Prix Wepler,<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Les 12 finalistes du prix Wepler-Fondation La Poste 2022 |url=https://www.livreshebdo.fr/article/les-12-finalistes-du-prix-wepler-fondation-la-poste-2022 |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=Livres Hebdo |language=fr}}</ref> in the selection of the Prix Les Inrockuptibles,<ref>{{Cite web |title=La sélection 2022 du prix littéraire Les Inrockuptibles |url=https://www.livreshebdo.fr/article/la-selection-2022-du-prix-litteraire-les-inrockuptibles |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=Livres Hebdo |language=fr}}</ref> the Prix Première 2023<ref>{{Cite web |title=Prix Première 2023 : les 10 finalistes |url=https://www.rtbf.be/article/prix-premiere-2023-les-10-finalistes-11100634 |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=RTBF |language=fr}}</ref> and the Prix Médicis.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=La première sélection du prix Medicis 2022 |url=https://www.livreshebdo.fr/article/la-premiere-selection-du-prix-medicis-2022 |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=Livres Hebdo |language=fr}}</ref> On 2 December 2022, her book was awarded the Prix Femina des lycéens.<ref name=":5" />
''Tenir sa langue'' tells the story of a little girl named ''Polina'' after her grandmother ''Pessah'', who was of Jewish religion but when faced with Antisemitism had to take this Russian first name. The day after the fall of the USSR, Polina's family arrived in France and her first name was Frenchified as "Pauline".<ref name=":1" /> The narrator is then confronted with a double identity: Polina at home, Pauline at school. This change of first name crystallizes her quest for identity between her two languages and her two countries to the point that she takes administrative action to recover her original first name: "What I want is to bear the first name I received at birth. Without hiding it, without disguising it, without changing it. Without being afraid of it." A journey in the opposite direction of so many others.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Bacharach |first=Jeanne |date=2022-08-30 |title=Tenir sa langue, le premier roman de Polina Panassenko |url=https://www.en-attendant-nadeau.fr/2022/08/31/accent-langue-maternelle-panassenko/ |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=En attendant Nadeau |language=fr-FR}}</ref>
Panassenko is also the author of a short story, ''There is no sex in the USSR'', and of the play ''The Queen of Silence'', directed by Arnaud Meunier at the Centre Dramatique National de Saint-Étienne.
== Awards and distinctions == * 2022: Finalist of the Prix Femina<ref name=":2" /> * 2022: Selection for the Prix Médicis<ref name=":4" /> * 2022: Selection for the Wepler Prize<ref name=":3" /> * 2022: Winner of the Porte Dorée Literary Prize * 2022: Winner of the second edition of the Emmanuèle Bernheim Scholarships.<ref name=":0" /> * 2022: Femina High School Students’ Prize for ''Holding Your Tongue''
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Panassenko, Polina}} Category:1989 births Category:French novelists Category:French writers Category:20th-century French novelists Category:Prix Femina winners Category:Writers from Moscow Category:Living people Category:French women writers Category:21st-century French writers Category:20th-century French women novelists