Ilya Kaminsky (born April 18, 1977) is a USSR-born, Ukrainian-Jewish-American 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]
Lifeedit
Kaminsky was born in Odesa, Ukraine, on April 18, 1977, to a Jewish family.[2] He became hard of hearing at the age of four due to mumps.[2] 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.[citation needed] 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.
2020 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, given to works that make important contributions to understanding racism and appreciation of rich diversity of human culture.[16]
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.
Writingsedit
Musica Humana (poetry, Chapiteau Press, 2002)[45]ISBN 978-1-931498-32-6
I See a Silence (a place-based poetry and installation at the former nuclear testing site,[54] Artangel, UK National Trust, Suffolk, United Kingdom, 2021)[55]
In translationedit
Sagir Cumhuriyet, translated into Turkish (Harfa, Turkey, 2020)[56]
"Gossip and Metaphysics: Russian Modernist Poems and Prose" (Tupelo Press, 2014)[82]
"In Shape of a Human Body I am Visiting This Earth: Poems from Far and Wide" (McSweeneys, 2017)[83]
"In the Hour of War: Poetry from Ukraine" (Arrowsmith Press, 2023) [84]
Book series edited
Poets in the World, a Book Series Edited by Ilya Kaminsky[10]
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[85]
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-fictionedit
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.[86]
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.[87][88][89]
Critical receptionedit
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"[90]
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."[91]
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."[92]
Washington Examiner calls Deaf Republic "a contemporary masterpiece. This book is proof that in 2019 great poetry can enjoy tremendous popularity."[93]
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."[46]
Searching for a Lost Odesa -- and a Deaf Childhood in The New York Times Magazine[86]
Of Strangeness that Wakes Us: On Mother Tongues, Fatherlands, and Paul Celan in Poetry[89]
Referencesedit
^"12 artists who changed the world in 2019". BBC. Retrieved 2022-01-16.
^ abArmitstead, Claire (2019-07-19). "'I will never hear my father's voice': Ilya Kaminsky on deafness and escaping the Soviet Union". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
^"The Centrum Writers Exchange- August 1, 2008 - The Sunlight of Odessa: Poet Ilya Kaminsky by Jordan Hartt". Archived from the original on 1 May 2009.
^Kaminsky, Ilya (2019-02-11). "Deaf Republic". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
^"ForeWord Magazine - Book Of The Year Awards - 2004 Finalists Print Out". Foreword Reviews. 19 May 2006. Archived from the original on 19 May 2006. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
^"Ilya Kaminsky". Words Without Borders. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
^"Poetry International @ SDSU". poetryinternational.sdsu.edu. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
^"The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry". HarperCollins. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
^ ab"The Poetry Foundation's Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute Launches Its Poets in the World Series". Poetry Foundation. 2021-01-26. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
^"City of Asylum Performers Enter Finals at National Book Awards". Long Shot Books. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
^"New Members Elected in 2023". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. 2023-04-19. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
^"Svensk Bookhandel: Kulturhuset Stadsteaterns internationella litteraturpris 2023" (in Swedish).
^"Premio Bonnani: Ilya Kaminsky p". Virtuqutidiane (in Italian). 18 November 2022. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
^"Los Angeles Times Book Prizes: Ilya Kaminsky, Poetry". Los Angeles Times. 17 April 2020. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
^"Deaf Republic". Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
^Poets, Academy of American. "Academy of American Poets Fellowship | Academy of American Poets". poets.org. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
^"Deaf Republic". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
^"Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky: 2019 Poetry finalist". National Book Critics Circle. 2020-02-28. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
^"Artists who changed the world in 2019". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
^ ab"100 Notable Books of 2019 (Published 2019)". The New York Times. 2019-11-25. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
^"| Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts". iac.gatech.edu. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
^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.
^"Bernardine Evaristo, Lee Child and more pick the best books of 2019". TheGuardian.com. 30 November 2019.
^"'Deaf Republic,' open ears | Washington Examiner". 5 April 2019.
^"Ilya Kaminsky | Poetry Foundation". 23 November 2021.
^"Ilya Kaminsky". Poets.org. Retrieved 15 June 2023.