Ilya Kaminsky Explained

Ilya Kaminsky
Native Name Lang:	uk
Native Name:	Ілля Камінський
Birth Date:	18 April 1977
Birth Place:	Odesa, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine)
Language:	English, Russian
Citizenship:	American
Genre:	Poetry
Spouse:	Katie Farris

Ilya Kaminsky (born April 18, 1977) is a poet, critic, translator and professor. He is best known for his poetry collections Dancing in Odesa and Deaf Republic, which have earned him several awards.

In 2019, the BBC named Kaminsky among "12 Artists who changed the world".^[1]

Life

Kaminsky was born in Odesa, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine) on April 18, 1977, to a Jewish family.^[2] He became hard of hearing at the age of four due to mumps. He began to write poetry as a teenager in Odesa.^[3] His family was granted asylum to live in the United States in 1993 due to antisemitism in Ukraine, and settled in Rochester, New York.^[4] He started to write poems in English in 1994.^[5]

Kaminsky is the author of critically acclaimed collections of poetry, Dancing in Odesa (2004) and Deaf Republic (2019). Both books were written in English, Kaminsky's second language.^[6]

Over the years, Kaminsky has also become known for his passionate advocacy of translation of international literature in the United States. A long time poetry editor at Words Without Borders,^[7] and Poetry International,^[8] he has also edited several anthologies of poetry from around the world, including Ecco Anthology of International Poetry (HarperCollins),^[9] which is widely used in classrooms all over the country. He has also founded and edited Poets in the World, a book series^[10] which is dedicated to publishing compilations of poetry from around the globe, including places such as Iraq, China, Eastern Europe, South America, and elsewhere. He has also edited and translated several collections of poetry from Ukraine.

Kaminsky has worked as a law clerk for San Francisco Legal Aid and the National Immigration Law Center. More recently, he worked pro-bono as the Court Appointed Special Advocate for Orphaned Children in Southern California.^[11] Currently, he is a professor at Princeton and lives in New Jersey.

Critical reception

Writing for The New Yorker, Kevin Young calls Deaf Republic "a contemporary epic. Evident throughout is a profound imagination, matched only by the poet's ability to create a republic of conscience that is ultimately ours, too"^[12] In The New York Times, Parul Sehgal says: "I was stunned by Ilya Kaminsky's Deaf Republic, lyric poems presented as a play in two acts, set in a country in crisis, inspired both by Odesa, where Kaminsky grew up, and America, where he now lives. It's a book about censorship, political apathy, torture — "the nakedness / of the whole nation" — but also about tomato sandwiches, the birth of a daughter and the sudden, almost shocking joys of longtime married life."^[13] In The Guardian, Fiona Benson says: "I fell hard for Ilya Kaminsky's Deaf Republic. Part folklore, fable, war story and love poem, it imagines an occupied town falling deaf in response to the shooting of a child. Often devastating, always humane, this is a book of the century, let alone this year."^[14] Washington Examiner calls Deaf Republic "a contemporary masterpiece. This book is proof that in 2019 great poetry can enjoy tremendous popularity."^[15] About Kaminsky's first book, Dancing in Odesa, Robert Pinsky writes: "Passionate, daring to laugh and weep, direct yet unexpected, Ilya Kaminsky's poetry has a glorious tilt and scope."^[16]

Honors and awards

• 2023 American Academy of Arts and Sciences^[17]
• 2023 Kulturhuset Stadsteaterns Internationella Litteraturpris, Sweden, finalist, for "Dansa i Odessa" (translated by Lars Gustaf Andersson) ^[18]
• 2022 Prix Alain Bosquet, France, for République sourde (translated by Sabine Huynh)
• 2022 Premio Laudomia Bonanni, Italy ^[19]
• 2021 Honored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York's Great Immigrant Award.^{[20] [21]}
• 2020 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for ^[22]
• 2020 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, given to works that make important contributions to understanding racism and appreciation of rich diversity of human culture.^[23]
• 2019 Academy of American Poets fellowship^[24]
• 2019 National Book Award finalist for Deaf Republic ^[25]
• 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award finalist for Deaf Republic ^[26]
• 2019 Named by BBC as one of "12 artists who changed the world in 2019"^[27]
• 2019 The New York Times Notable Book of the Year for Deaf Republic ^[28]
• 2019 National Jewish Book Award^[29]
• 2019 T. S. Eliot Prize finalist^[30]
• 2019 Forward Prize for Poetry, finalist^[31]
• 2018 Guggenheim Fellowship^[32]
• 2013 Neustadt International Prize for Literature finalist^[33]
• 2008 Lannan Literary Fellowship
• 2005 Whiting Award
• 2005 American Academy of Arts and Letters Metcalf Award
• 2001 Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship^[34]

Best Book of the Year

Deaf Republic was listed as The New York Times Notable Book and was called Best Book of the Year by numerous publications, including NPR,^[35] The Washington Post,^[36] The New York Times Book Review,^[37] Times Literary Supplement,^[38] Publishers Weekly, Financial Times,^[39] The Guardian,^{[40] [41]} Irish Times,^[42] Library Journal,^[43] The Daily Telegraph,^[44] New Statesman,^[45] Slate,^[46] Vanity Fair,^[47] Literary Hub,^[48] Huffington Post,^[49] the New York Public Library,^[50] and American Library Association.^[51]

Work

Kaminsky is best known for his poetry collections, Dancing in Odesa (2004) and Deaf Republic (2019). He is also known for his work in literary translation, his anthologies of international poetry and his literary essays.

Writings

• Musica Humana (poetry, Chapiteau Press, 2002)^[52]
• Dancing in Odesa (poetry, Tupelo Press in USA and Faber^[53] in UK, 2004)
• Sonya's Fairytale (poetry, Bonnefant Press, Holland, 2010)^[54]
• It is the Soul that is Erotic (lyric essay, Orison Press, 2017)^[55]
• A Soul's Noise (lyric essay, Five Hundred Places Press, 2017)^{[56] [57]}
• Deaf Republic (poetry, Graywolf^[58] in USA and Faber^[59] in UK, 2019)
• I See a Silence (a place-based poetry and installation at the former nuclear testing site,^[60] Artangel, UK National Trust, Suffolk, United Kingdom, 2021)^[61]

In translation

• Sagir Cumhuriyet, translated into Turkish (Harfa, Turkey, 2020)^[62]
• Kurtide vabariik, translated into Estonian (Loomingu Raamatukogu, Estonia, 2020)^[63]
• Dansað í Ódesa, translated into Icelandic (Dimma Publishers, Iceland, 2017)^[64]
• Tanzen in Odesa, translated into German (Klak Publishing House, Berlin, 2017)^[65]
• Танцувајќи во Одеcа, translated into Macedonian (Blesok Publishers, Macedonia, 2014)^[66]
• Bailando en Odesa, translated into Spanish (Valparaiso Ediciones, Mexico, 2014)^[67]
• Bailando en Odesa, translated into Spanish (Tupelo Press, USA, 2018)^[68]
• Musika Narodov Vetra, translated into Russian (Ailuros Publishing, 2013)^[69]
• Selected Poems and Essays, translated into Chinese (book, Shangai Literature and Art Publishing House, 2013)^[70]
• Bailando en Odesa, translated into Spanish, Libros del Aire, Madrid, 2012^[71]
• Dovenrepubliek, translated into Dutch (Azul Press, Amsterdam, Holland, 2011)^[72]
• Odesa'Da Dans, by Ilya Kaminsky, translated into Turkish, Cervi Siir, Istanbul, 2010^[73]
• On Dance a Odesa, by Ilya Kaminsky, (a book, Editions D'Art Le Sabord, Quebec, 2010)^[74]
• Бродячие музыканты translated into Russian (Moscow, Yunost, 2007)^[75]
• Dansand in Odesa, tr. into Romanian by Chris Tanasescu, (book, Editura Vinea, Bucharest, 2007)^[76]
• Рэспубліка глухіх, tr. into Belarusian by Julia Cimafiejeva and Valzhyna Mort (Skaryna Press, London, 2023)^[77]

Translations

• "Traveling Musicians: Poems of Polina Barskova" (Yunost Publishers, 2007)^[78]
• "This Lamentable City: Poems of Polina Barskova" (Tupelo Press, 2010)^[79]
• "If I Were Born in Prague: Poems of Guy Jean" (Argos Press, 2011)^[80]
• "Mourning Ploughs Winter: Poems of Guy Jean" (Marick Press, 2012)^[81]
• "Dark Elderberry Branch: Poems of Marina Tsvetaeva" (Alice James Books, 2012)^[82]
• "A Small Suitcase of Russian Poetry: An Anthology of Translations" (Henry Miller Museum, Ping-Pong Free Press, 2016)^[83]
• "The Country Where Everyone's Name Is Fear: Poems of Boris and Ludmile Khersonsky" (Lost Horse Press, 2022)^[84]

Anthologies editor

• "Ecco Anthology of International Poetry" (HarperCollins, 2010)^[85]
• "Homage to Paul Celan" (Marick Press, 2012)^[86]
• "A God in the House" (Tupelo Press, 2012)^[87]
• "Gossip and Metaphysics: Russian Modernist Poems and Prose" (Tupelo Press, 2014)^[88]
• "In Shape of a Human Body I am Visiting This Earth: Poems from Far and Wide" (McSweeneys, 2017)^[89]
• "In the Hour of War: Poetry from Ukraine" (Arrowsmith Press, 2023) ^[90]

Book series edited Poets in the World, a Book Series Edited by Ilya Kaminsky

• Pinholes in the Night: Essential Poems from Latin America, editors Raul Zúrita and Forrest Gander (Copper Canyon Press)
• Seven New Generation African Poets, editors Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani (Slapering Hol Press)
• Fifteen Iraqi Poets, editor Dunya Mikhail (New Directions)
• Another English: Anglophone Poems from Around the World, editors Catherine Barnett and Tiphanie Yanique (Tupelo Press)
• Elsewhere, editor Eliot Weinberger (Open Letter Books)
• Bones Will Crow: An Anthology of Burmese Poetry, editor Ko Ko Thett and James Byrne (Northern Illinois University Press)
• Landays: Poetry of Afgan Women, editor Eliza Griswold, Special Issue of Poetry magazine^[91]
• New Cathay: Contemporary Chinese Poetry, editor Ming Di (Tupelo Press)
• Something Indecent: Poems Recommended by Eastern European Poets, editor Valzhyna Mort (Red Hen Press)
• The Star by My Head: Poets from Sweden, editors Malena Mörling and Jonas Ellerström (Milkweed Editions)
• Open the Door: How to Excite Young People about Poetry, editors Dorothea Lasky, Dominic Luxford and Jesse Nathan
• The Strangest of Theatres: Poets Writing Across Borders, editors Jared Hawkley, Brian Turner and Susan Rich (McSweeneys)

Non-fiction

In 2018, Kaminsky published in The New York Times Magazine a widely discussed lyric essay about deafness and his return to Odesa, Ukraine, after many years away.^[92] He also writes essays on various subjects such as borders, creative life in the age of surveillance, and poetics of Paul Celan, for publications such as The Guardian, The New York Times, and Poetry.^{[93] [94] [95]}

Selected poems and essays

Poems

• Poems from Deaf Republic in The New Yorker
• A Selection of Kaminsky's Poems at Poetry website^[96]
• A Selection of Kaminsky's Poems at The Academy of American Poets website^[97]
• A Selection of Kaminsky's Poems at The Massachusetts Review website^[98]
• Musica Humana at Poetry International Rotterdam website^[99]
• Elegy for Joseph Brodsky at Poetry International Rotterdam website^[100]
• We Lived Happily During the War at Poetry Magazine website^[101]
• Author's Prayer at Poetry website^[102]

Essays

• Searching for a Lost Odesa -- and a Deaf Childhood in The New York Times Magazine
• Of Strangeness that Wakes Us: On Mother Tongues, Fatherlands, and Paul Celan in Poetry

External links

• • Profile at The Whiting Foundation
• Tupelo Press > Author Page > Ilya Kaminsky

Notes and References

1. News: 12 artists who changed the world in 2019. BBC. 2022-01-16. en-GB.
2. News: 'I will never hear my father's voice': Ilya Kaminsky on deafness and escaping the Soviet Union. Armitstead. Claire. 2019-07-19. The Guardian. 2019-11-17. en-GB. 0261-3077.
3. Web site: The Centrum Writers Exchange- August 1, 2008 - The Sunlight of Odessa: Poet Ilya Kaminsky by Jordan Hartt. https://web.archive.org/web/20090501194935/http://www.centrum.org/writing/2008/08/the-sunlight-of.html. dead. 1 May 2009.
4. News: Deaf Republic. Kaminsky. Ilya. The New Yorker. 2019-02-11. 2019-11-17. en. 0028-792X.
5. Web site: Ilya Kaminsky. 2019-11-16. Poetry Foundation. 2019-11-17.
6. Web site: ForeWord Magazine - Book Of The Year Awards - 2004 Finalists Print Out . . 12 November 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20060519185511/http://www.forewordmagazine.com/botya/print2k4.aspx . 19 May 2006 . 19 May 2006 . dead . dmy-all .
7. Web site: Ilya Kaminsky. 2021-01-26. Words Without Borders.
8. Web site: Poetry International @ SDSU. 2021-01-26. poetryinternational.sdsu.edu.
9. Web site: The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry. 2021-01-26. HarperCollins. en.
10. Web site: 2021-01-26. The Poetry Foundation's Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute Launches Its Poets in the World Series. 2021-01-26. Poetry Foundation. en.
11. Web site: City of Asylum Performers Enter Finals at National Book Awards.. 2021-01-26. Long Shot Books. en.
12. 11 February 2019 . "Deaf Republic" . The New Yorker.
13. News: Garner . Dwight . Sehgal . Parul . Szalai . Jennifer . 5 December 2019 . Times Critics Discuss Their Year in Books, from New Talents to Old Favorites . The New York Times.
14. Web site: 30 November 2019 . Bernardine Evaristo, Lee Child and more pick the best books of 2019 . TheGuardian.com.
15. Web site: 5 April 2019 . 'Deaf Republic,' open ears Washington Examiner .
16. News: Dancing in Odessa by Ilya Kaminsky - Tupelo Press . Tupelo Press.
17. Web site: 2023-04-19 . New Members Elected in 2023 . 2023-12-07 . American Academy of Arts & Sciences . en.
18. Web site: Svensk Bookhandel: Kulturhuset Stadsteaterns internationella litteraturpris 2023. 20 September 2023 . Swedish.
19. Web site: Premio Bonnani: Ilya Kaminsky p. 2023-02-26. Virtuqutidiane. 18 November 2022 . It-Italy.
20. Web site: Ilya Kaminsky . June 10, 2024 . Carnegie Corporation of New York.
21. Web site: Lee . Maggie . 2021-07-01 . Reporter's Notebook: State database difficulty, other baseball on All-Star day . 2024-06-20 . SaportaReport . en-US.
22. Web site: Los Angeles Times Book Prizes: Ilya Kaminsky, Poetry. 2021-01-26. Los Angeles Times. 17 April 2020 . en-US.
23. Web site: Deaf Republic. 2021-01-26. Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. en-US.
24. Web site: Academy of American Poets Fellowship Academy of American Poets. Poets. Academy of American. poets.org. 2019-11-17.
25. Web site: Deaf Republic. 2021-01-26. National Book Foundation. en-US.
26. Web site: 2020-02-28. Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky: 2019 Poetry finalist. 2021-01-26. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
27. Web site: Artists who changed the world in 2019. 2021-01-26. www.bbc.co.uk.
28. News: 2019-11-25. 100 Notable Books of 2019 (Published 2019). en-US. The New York Times. 2021-01-26. 0362-4331.
29. Web site: Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. 2021-01-26. iac.gatech.edu.
30. Web site: 2019-07-10. Deaf Republic (Shortlisted, 2019 TS Eliot Poetry Prize; Winner, 2019 Forward Poetry Prize). 2021-01-26. dura-dundee.org.uk. en-US.
31. Web site: Forward Arts Foundation in Conversation with Ilya Kaminsky. 2021-01-26. Forward Arts Foundation. en-GB.
32. Web site: Ilya Kaminsky. gf.org.
33. Web site: 2013-08-12. America's Nobel: The Neustadt International Prize for Literature. 2021-01-26. Publishing Perspectives.
34. Web site: Poetry Foundation > Previous Ruth Lily Poetry Fellowship Recipients. https://web.archive.org/web/20110107101213/http://www.poetryfoundation.org/foundation/prizes_fellowship.html. dead. 7 January 2011.
35. Web site: NPR's best books of 2020. 2021-01-26. apps.npr.org.
36. Web site: Bestpoetry collections of 2019. washingtonpost.com.
37. News: Talking About the 10 Best Books of 2019. The New York Times. 26 November 2019.
38. Web site: Books of the Year 2019 - Arts & books roundups.
39. News: Crawford . Maria . 22 November 2019 . Best books of 2019: Poetry . Financial Times . subscription.
40. Web site: The best recent poetry – review roundup. TheGuardian.com. 10 July 2019.
41. Web site: Best poetry of 2019. TheGuardian.com. 30 November 2019.
42. News: Christmas gifts for readers: The Irish Times guide to best books of 2019. .
43. Web site: Best Poetry 2019.
44. News: The best new poetry books to buy for Christmas 2019. The Telegraph. 4 December 2019. Saunders. Tristram Fane.
45. Web site: Books of the year. 15 June 2023.
46. The 10 Best Books of 2019, According to Slate's Books Editor. Slate . 3 December 2019 . Kois . Dan .
47. Web site: The Best Books of 2019, as Chosen by the Editors of Vanity Fair. Vanity Fair. 26 December 2019.
48. Web site: The Ultimate Best Books of 2019 List. 11 December 2019.
49. Web site: The Year I Fell in Love with Reading Poetry Again. 8 December 2019.
50. Web site: Best Books for Adults 2020.
51. Web site: 2020 Notable Books List: Year's best in fiction, nonfiction and poetry. 26 January 2020.
52. Web site: Chapiteau Press Titles . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20201012112055/http://www.chapiteau.org/html/titles.html . 2020-10-12 . 2020-10-06.
53. Web site: Dancing in Odessa by Ilya Kaminsky | Books & Shop, Poetry . 15 June 2023 . Faber.
54. Web site: Amazon.com . 15 June 2023 . Amazon.
55. Web site: It's the Soul That's Erotic: An Essay on Adélia Prado, by Ilya Kaminsky .
56. Web site: fivehundred places .
57. Web site: Ilya Kaminsky: A soul's noise, Sanya Kantarovsky, Fivehundred places .
58. Web site: Deaf Republic | Graywolf Press .
59. Web site: Deaf Republic Faber & Faber . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20200106180731/https://www.faber.co.uk/9780571351411-deaf-republic.html . 2020-01-06.
60. News: Armitstead . Claire . 3 August 2021 . Orford Ness: The apocalyptic art zone at war with nature . The Guardian.
61. Web site: Afterness . 15 June 2023 . www.artangel.org.uk.
62. Web site: 19 November 2020 . Sağır Cumhuriyet: Ilya Kaminsky'nin Direnişi Şiirle Buluşturan Eseri Türkçede .
63. Web site: Ilya Kaminsky "Kurtide vabariik" . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20210210114106/https://puant.ee/e-pood/eesti-keeles/luule/ilya-kaminsky-kurtide-vabariik . 2021-02-10 . 2021-02-09.
64. News: 10 September 2018 . Dansað í Ódessa . Dimma.
65. Web site: Ilya Kaminsky, Tanzen in Odessa. Gedichte KLAK VerlagKLAK Verlag .
66. Web site: 26 November 2014 . Шеста серија од поетската едиција "ЕваТас" на "Блесок" .
67. Web site: 23 November 2014 . Bailando en Odesa de Ilyá Kamínsky en Valparaíso México .
68. Web site: Bailando en Odessa by Ilya Kaminsky - Tupelo Press .
69. Web site: Илья Каминский "Музыка народов ветра" - Издательство "Айлурос" и другие . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120622073702/http://www.elenasuntsova.com/kaminsky . 2012-06-22.
70. Web site: Books Ilya Kaminsky .
71. Web site: Bailando en Odesa : Ilyá Kamínsky : 9788494038730 .
72. Web site: Ilya Kaminsky - Azul Press . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20201011155127/http://www.azulpress.com/boeken/kaminsky.htm . 2020-10-11 . 2020-10-06.
73. Book: Kitapyurdu, Kitapla buluşmanın en kolay yolu . 12 January 2013 . Artshop Yayıncılık . 9786055102159.
74. https://www.lesabord.qc.ca/book-full/57/On-danse-Odessa Book cover
75. Web site: Книга "Travelling Musicians / Бродячие музыканты" – купить книгу ISBN 5-88653-087-8 с быстрой доставкой в интернет-магазине OZON .
76. Web site: Ilya Kaminschy, Dansand in Odessa Okazii.ro .
77. Web site: Рэспубліка глухіх . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20231113155731/https://www.skarynapress.com/knihi/respublika-hluchich . 2023-11-13 . 2023-11-13 . Skaryna Press . en-US.
78. Book: Барскова . Полина . Travelling Musicians / Бродячие музыканты — Полина Барскова . Юность Паб. . 2007 . 9785886530872.
79. Web site: This Lamentable City by Polina Barskova - Tupelo Press .
80. Web site: If I Were Born In Prague « Argos Books .
81. Web site: Mourning Ploughs .
82. Web site: Dark Elderberry Branch: Poems of Marina Tsvetaeva — Alice James Books .
83. Book: A Small Suitcase of Russian Poetry: Russian Poetry in Translation . 29 March 2016 . Ping-Pong Free Press/Henry Miller Memorial Library . 9780997379501.
84. Web site: The Country Where Everyone's Name is Fear: Poems of Boris and Ludmila Khersonsky — Lost Horse Press .
85. Web site: The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry – HarperCollins .
86. Web site: Homage to Paul Celan, G.C.Waldrep .
87. Web site: A God in the House: Poets Talk About Faith - Tupelo Press .
88. Web site: Gossip & Metaphysics, edited by Ilya Kaminsky - Tupelo Press .
89. Web site: Poetry - The McSweeney's Store .
90. Web site: In the Hour of War: Poetry from Ukraine – Arrowsmith Press) .
91. Web site: Landays: Poetry of Afghan Women . 2021-01-26 . static.poetryfoundation.org . en.
92. News: Kaminsky . Ilya . 9 August 2018 . Searching for a Lost Odessa — and a Deaf Childhood . The New York Times.
93. Web site: 3 March 2017 . Living on the border in Trump's America: 'walls don't stop people from crossing' . TheGuardian.com.
94. News: Kaminsky . Ilya . 3 January 2020 . Opinion | an Empty Street in Daylight . The New York Times.
95. Web site: 23 November 2021 . Of Strangeness That Wakes Us by Ilya Kaminsky .
96. Web site: Ilya Kaminsky | Poetry Foundation. 23 November 2021.
97. Web site: Ilya Kaminsky. Poets.org. 15 June 2023.
98. https://www.massreview.org/sites/default/files/06_59.1Kaminsky.pdf A Selection of Kaminsky's Poems
99. Web site: MUSICA HUMANA (poem) - Ilya Kaminsky - USA - Poetry International.
100. Web site: ELEGY FOR JOSEPH BRODSKY (Poem) - Ilya Kaminsky - USA - Poetry International.
101. Web site: We Lived Happily During the War by Ilya Kaminsky Poetry Foundation. 11 March 2022.
102. Web site: Author's Prayer by Ilya Kaminsky. 23 November 2021.