Born in Budapest, Hungary, Andréa grew up living and travelling in Europe, Africa, North America and the Caribbean, before settling in Montréal, where she studied Classics at McGill [B.A.] and Concordia [M.A. & B.Ed.] Universities. She worked as a falconer involved with raptor rehabilitation in Québec, and upon moving to Toronto, did post-graduate work at the University of Toronto, and worked as a falconer and keeper at the Metro Toronto Zoo.
She has taught English in Canada and during her travels, including an extended stay in Japan which involved editing and translation. She also composed music and lyrics for fooliar, a band for which she was lead vocalist and second guitarist. The band released the CD fooliar (1999) in Japan.
Andréa has read regularly at Toronto's various poetry reading series, as well as on CIUT-FM Radio. On Saturday 5th June 2004, Andréa read with Margaret Atwood, bill bissett, Christian Bök, George Bowering, George Elliott Clarke, David Donnell, Dennis Lee, Bruce Meyer, Robert Priest and Joe Rosenblatt at A Reading for Gwendolyn MacEwen Park Memorial in Gwendolyn MacEwen Park in Toronto.
Andréa has translated the poetry of the Hungarian-Canadian poet George Faludy into English. She also translated Canadian poet Penn Kemp’s Peace Poem into Hungarian, and read Peace Poem at a number of readings in Hungarian, German, Platt Dietsch, Latin and Greek. In the spring of 2003, Andréa was appointed Poetry Editor for Tansi News, Toronto’s Aboriginal Newspaper, editor Dennis Stark.
Since she began writing professionally in 1994, Andréa has had about 50 poems published in various literary journals and anthologies. She has published three chapbooks: The Ahab Poems [January 2003], One Bee [October 2003], and Woman in Armour [April 2004], all by Fooliar Press [a small press co-founded with partner David Newel in 2003]. Woman in Armour was published as half of the Woman in Armour exhibition of paintings by Toronto artist Elizabeth Greisman and poems by Andréa Jarmai at the Pteros Gallery in Toronto [April 2004].
Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls [Seraphim Editions], Andréa’s first book-length collection of poetry, was published in April 2004. It was edited by Allan Briesmaster.
Andréa is currently editing a volume of critical essays on the work of Gwendolyn MacEwen for Guernica Editions' Writers Series; publishing chapbooks of other poets’ work and her own under the imprint of Fooliar Press; and, is about to begin work on her second book-length collection of poetry with the working title of Paracelsus’ Dreams.