Of Russian poetry today – Dmitry Kuzmin

Dmitry Kuzmin

was born in 1968 in Moscow. He taught poetry and literary translation in universities including Princeton and founded the Vavilon Union of Young Poets, which was the organizational hub for Moscow’s experimental poetry scene. He is head of ARGO­RISK Publishers (about 20 titles of present-day Russian poetry yearly) and edits vavilon.ru with about 200 contemporary authors and Воздух (“Air”), a quarterly poetry magazine. He published the Moscow Literary Life monthly review (1996–2002), the first Russian magazine for young writers Vavilon (1992–2003) the first Russian magazine for gay writing Risk (1996–2002), the first Russian haiku magazine Triton (2000–2004) etc.

Kuzmin had compiled the first Russian anthology of prose poems (2000) and the first anthology of present-day Russian poetry written beyond Russia (2004). He won the Andrei Bely award of Merit in Literature (2002). Kuzmin’s poems are published in several languages, he has published poetry translations from English, Ukrainian, French etc. in Russia. Selected poems and translations by Kuzmin, Хорошо быть живым (It’s fine to be alive), as a hard­back of 400 pages, won the Московский счёт (Moscow Count) award for best debut poetry collection.

Read an interview on THE CONVERSANT

Kuzmin had compiled the first Russian anthology of prose poems (2000) and the first anthology of present-day Russian poetry written beyond Russia (2004). He won the Andrei Bely award of Merit in Literature (2002). Kuzmin’s poems are published in several languages, he has published poetry translations from English, Ukrainian, French etc. in Russia. Selected poems and translations by Kuzmin, Хорошо быть живым (It’s fine to be alive), as a hard­back of 400 pages, won the Московский счёт (Moscow Count) award for best debut poetry collection.

How we built the tower —

 The Vavilon project