Ilya Kamińsky

Republika Głuchych

Ilya Kaminsky is a Ukrainian-Russian-Jewish-American poet, critic, translator, and professor at Princeton University. He is best known for his poetry collections “Dancing in Odesa” and :Deaf Republic”, which blur the boundaries between poetry and drama. His works have been translated into over 20 languages and will be published in Polish for the first time. He has received major literary awards in the United States. Kaminsky was born in 1977 into a Jewish family in Odesa, in the former Ukrainian SSR.

He lost hearing when he was 4. When he was 16 years old, his family obtained asylum in the United States. It was there that he was fitted with a hearing aid for the first time. His works introduce readers to a world full of evocative sounds, a unique rhythm; he also touches on current civic and political issues. At the same time, he skilfully plays with language and genre, interweaving profound themes with moments of lightness, humour, and eroticism. „Deaf Republic” is an incredibly powerful narrative about the current state of the world, touching on themes of war, deafness, and the challenges of humanity.