Tag: poetry

Fence

On By Olga ZilberbourgIn Publication, TranslationLeave a comment

I’m writing to share the latest of my translations to find home in a literary magazine. I’m continuing to translate the work of a Kyiv-based poet Olga Bragina, and this piece appeared in the latest issue of Fence Magazine (#43, Spring-Summer Issue).

A magazine cover on the background of green grass
Open spread of a magazine on the background of green grass

I’m sharing the piece here, but please do click through to the magazine and buy an issue or subscribe for a year. Fence takes cool experimental stuff and they take really good care of writers and writing, and supporting a magazine like this contributes immediately to the vibrancy of our literary world.

I want to go to an art show but I think what if they start bombing

the day after tomorrow is the first anniversary of the invasion      what if they start bombing

because who knows how many clones of that psychopathic KGB man are bombing us into the ground

because he doesn’t like our country and particularly my city

so what        I too often dislike this city        when we have traffic jams      black ice      intercity trains departing at six a.m.        I dislike it all      life might be more comfortable in any other city of Europe

and no I don’t think the way some do that the Motherland is sick but I love it anyway      no I don’t think the Motherland is sick      these thoughts belong to a different paradigm

my paradigm are the words of the Kyiv-born Golda Meir      “We want to live. Our neighbors want us dead. This doesn’t leave a lot of room for compromise.”

I’m so glad to know that art shows are opening in our city      I know they are opening

Best Literary Translations and Baltimore

On By Olga ZilberbourgIn book, Event, Publication, Readings, TranslationLeave a comment

Three years ago, in preparation for a literary reading in support of Ukraine, I asked a Kyiv-based poet Olga Bragina for the permission to translate her poems. I’d been reading her poems on Facebook and had become a fan, and I had an idea of how she might sound in my English. Though I’d been writing in English for a couple of decades at that point, as a translator I was a newbie. But, I dared. And Olga kindly took a chance on me.

It’s very rewarding that one of my translations of her poems, first published by Consequence, has been selected to appear in Best Literary Translations 2026, an anthology coming out from Deep Vellum Press. This poem was chosen by the new U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze, and also by the series co-editors, Noh Anothai, Wendy Call, Öykü Tekten and Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún. (Wendy Call is the editor I’ve been most directly in touch with, and I’m so impressed with her energy and dedication.)

A book with a purple cover displayed on the background of mossy bricks Best Literary Translations 2026 U.S. Poet Laureate ARTHUR SZE Guest Editor Noh Anothai Wendy Call Oyku Tekten Kola Tubosun Series Co-editors

It’s a beautiful book that collects a great many powerful and unexpected voices. For a reader, it’s a thrilling ride. Please pre-order a copy from the publisher, and ask your library to order a copy. Rate and review to amplify!

Russia’s war against Ukraine continues. Most of you have probably seen the reporting about Russia’s assault on Ukraine’s electric grid, among other horrors. As creative writers, my peers and I respond to this aggression in a variety of ways from a wide range of our subjective positions. If you can be in Baltimore on March 6th this year, come to the event I describe below to hear 26 (!!) of us.

We’re calling this event Eastern European Voices for Resistance and Reinvention. Take a look at our amazing flyer, designed by Ena Selimović of Turkoslavia translation collective and journal.

Background: Blue with a black X in the lower right corner Foreground: Words in black read : Resistance + Reinvention Words in Yellow Read: Eastern European Voices March 6, 7:00-9:30 pm Library Nineteen 606 S. Ann St, Baltimore MD, 21231 Words in white read : A benefit reading for Ukraine Words in white read:This one-of-a-kind reading brings together writers from Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet countries who now make their homes across the United States. Taking place during the 2026 AWP Conference, the event celebrates a growing circle of poets, prose writers, and translators from complex, cross-cultural identities whose work is shaped by displacement and immigration, survival and resilience. Featuring Words in white read: Alina Adams, Valerie Bandura, Svetlana Binshtok, Daniel Blokh, Katie Farris, Katarzyna Jakubiak, Victoria Juharyan, Andrea Jurjevic, Ilya Kaminsky, Julia Kolchinsky, Maria Kuznetsova, Ellen Litman, Olga Livshin, olga mikolaivna, Asya Partan, Irina Reyn, Ena Selimović, Lucy Silbaugh, Lana Spendl, Alina Stefanescu, Natalya Sukhonos, Vlada Teper, Katherine E. Young, Tatsiana Zamirovskaya, Olga Zilberbourg, and Lena Zycinsky.

For more details, take a look at our Eventbrite page. If you’re able to attend, please do register. We expect this event to sell out. Please bring friends and share with people you know in Baltimore and Washington, DC area. And whether or not you can make it, donate to Ukraine TrustChain or your favorite organizations that support Ukraine.

Clark Coolidge’s Collected Poems

On By Olga ZilberbourgIn Book review, Readings, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Excited to learn that Clark Coolidge’s new Collected Poems is being published in April. I’m well-connected! Got an email from City Lights, announcing his reading on April 13, and also an email from the publisher, Station Hill Press. Apparently, Publishers Weekly declined to review this book — which is a sure sign of a certain kind of quality. Coolidge’s experiments from 1962 to 1986 still feel experimental!  This book comes with the coolidge-cover-largeintroduction by the late poet Bill Berkson.

I learned of Coolidge’s work several years ago, when asked to review his long poem that came out of trips to Leningrad-Petersburg. That review appeared in HTMLGiant. I’ve been following his work ever since. What appeals to me the most is the sense of play that comes from reading his lines, the attitude toward poetry and language as something to take apart and mold in new ways, as though just to see what will happen. A reading act calls for some kind of an interaction, for a partner to whom I could speak some lines, and who would laugh and nod in response. That’s cool. This falls flat. Read that again.