WEBVTT

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[APPLAUSE]

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It's a real pleasure
of Tucson to get

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to stand up and look at this
many people here for poetry.

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So thanks for being here.

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It's an honor to welcome
Ilya Kaminsky back to Tucson.

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We're so glad you're here.

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He was last here
in April of 2013.

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And a fun fact, if you've
seen the author photo

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on the back of
Deaf Republic, that

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was taken here at the Poetry
Center by Cybele Knowles,

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and it's a fabulous picture.

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So Ilya Kaminsky was born
in Odesa, Ukraine in 1977.

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And he arrived in
the United States

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in 1993, when his family
was granted asylum

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by the American government.

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The foundations and
concerns of Kaminsky's work

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are reflected in
that background.

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The richness of multiple
languages and literatures,

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the experiences of loss
and refuge, both of which

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hold home and exile, and
a lifelong commitment

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to human rights and
the work of witnessing.

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Kaminsky is the author of
Dancing in Odessa and Deaf

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Republic.

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Both award-winning
books of poetry

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that have earned a lasting
place in American literature

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for Kaminsky's exquisite
craft and deeply human vision.

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Dancing in Odessa,
published in 2004,

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speaks to the roots of
Kaminsky's life in Ukraine.

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While Deaf Republic,
published in 2019,

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rises out of his years
in the United States.

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In Deaf Republic, we encounter
the heart of Kaminsky's vision,

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an understanding of
people as deeply flawed

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and absurdly beautiful.

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We find the depths of loss
alongside the astonishing joy

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of intimacy.

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These poems take
the form of a fable.

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Death Republic is
a story in poems.

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It's the script for a play.

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It's a mirror that
recognizes all

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that we have to offer as
humans, both good and evil.

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In Kaminsky's
poems, we recognize

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humans as capable of
brave speech and action

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on other's behalf.

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And we also see ourselves as
capable of turning against one

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another, of turning
away unspeaking

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from violence and oppression.

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It's a book that questions us by
asking us to question ourselves.

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In Deaf Republic and in
Kaminsky's writing broadly,

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we are asked what we will
do with what we witness.

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Of Ilya Kaminsky, Katie
Farris writes this haiku.

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His left eye closes
for the night.

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His stubborn right, reading.

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That stubborn,
committed reading is

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evident in Kaminsky's work as
a translator, editor, essayist,

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and champion of
world literature.

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He's the co-editor and
co-translator of many books,

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most recently, In the Hour
of War: Poems from Ukraine.

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Translating and highlighting
the work of poets from Ukraine

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has been a major part of
Kaminsky's recent work, much

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of it with Katie Farris.

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In June 2025, look
for their translation,

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Letters of the
Alphabet Go to War,

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which is an account by
Ukrainian poet Lesyk

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Panasiuk of her harrowing
experience of living

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in Bucha, Ukraine during
Russia's brutal occupation.

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Kaminsky has also created
the Odesa poetry studio,

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which supports Ukrainian
children by giving them

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a space in Odesa to gather,
write poetry and share

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their work with one another.

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There's much more
remarkable work

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that I could tell you about, but
I hope that what you're hearing,

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and what I'm saying, is that
Kaminsky's work across the board

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speaks to us and
our present moment.

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Tonight, we'll hear and sit with
Kaminsky's Deaf Republic, which

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is a fable for our times,
for us, for here, for now.

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Please help me enjoy.

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Please help me
welcome Ilya Kaminsky.

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[APPLAUSE]