“Стихи – это всегда единое поле. Твои стихи не берутся из ниоткуда. Они пришли из чужих стихов и чужих голосов. Ты – это калейдоскоп чужих текстов. Об этом надо помнить всегда. И быть благодарным. Без другого не было бы тебя.”
In 2002, he was named as one of the ten best living Russian poets in a poll of 110 leading Russian poets and critics, being one of just two poets under 35 in the top ten. Some critics name him as “perhaps the best known poet of his generation”, while others claim that he recites his poems better than he writes them.
He is considered as the leader of New Sincerity in Russian literature. Vodennikov graduated from Moscow State Pedagogical Institute, philology department and for four years worked as a school teacher. He writes essays and columns for several Russian magazines and hosts two radio shows dedicated to poetry: “Free Entry” on Radio Kultura and “Poetic Minimum” on Radio Rossii.
Поэт и эссеист. Родился в 1968 г. Окончил филологический факультет педагогического университета. Автор семи книг стихов. В последние годы работает на Радио России: создатель и ведущий программ о современной русской литературе “Записки неофита”, “Своя колокольня” и “Поэтический минимум”.
Read some of his poetry (in English)
Visit his homepage (Russian)
Because we don’t have English versions of pieces used in this lecture, while we can provide informal translation of Dimitrys thoughts, the poetry itself will remain in Russian. Those who enjoy verses for their musicality can still expect a pleasant evening…
Like our next show – an evening with the poet Dmitry Kuzmin – this is a affiliate project. Dmitry Vodennikov is coming to Britain on an invitation by Durham University with more appearances scheduled in Cambridge, Edinburgh and Oxford, and we are glad to add ourselves to those ranks. Dmitry Kuzmin has been invited by the Russian Poets Fund, the evening will be conducted in liaison with them. His next show also takes place in Oxford.
is a London-based charity that brings the best of Russian poets and translators to the UK for meetings with members of the general public and academia. Visit their Homepage here.